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I 


THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


221.92 


J 


HISTORY 


OF 


ABRAHAM,  JACOB,  AND  ELISHA. 

BY  THE 

REV.  HENRY  BLUNT,  A.  M., 

RECTOR  OF  UPPER  CHELSEA, 

AND  FORMERLY  FELLOW  OF  PEMBROKE  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE. 


LAST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  TWENTIETH  LONDON  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

H.  HOOKER, 

SOT'WR  WEST  CORNER  CHESNUT  AND  EIGHTH  STS. 

18r)4. 


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PREFACE. 

In  oflfering  another  unpretending  little  work  to  the 
notice  of  the  public,  the  Author  has  great  reason  to 
express  his  gratitude  to  God  for  the  undeserved  and 
unexpected  success  with  which  the  former  volumes  have 
been  favoured.  That  this  success  ought  to  have  com- 
manded greater  diligence  upon  the  present  occasion, 
he  is  ready  to  admit ; while  he  is  at  the  same  time 
bound  to  confess  that  increasing  occupation  in  minis- 
terial engagements,  equal  in  importance  to  the  more 
public  duties  of  the  pulpit,  has  very  much  withheld 
him  from  such  additional  attention  as  he  could  most 
earnestly  have  desired  to  bestow.  ^ 

On  this,  as  upon  former  occasions,  he  would  disavow 
all  claims  to  originality  of  exposition,  to  depth  of 
criticism,  to  beauty  or  elaborateness  of  composition ; 
his  single  attempt  has  been  to  speak  plain  truths  in 
plain  language ; to  convey  to  the  hearts  of  the  poorest 
and  most  uneducated  of  his  hearers,  by  the  aid  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Scripture, 
as  illustrated  in  the  life  of  a faithful  servant  of  God. 

Coveting  earnestly  the  largest  portion  of  the  blessing 
of  the  God  of  Abram  upon  this  most  feeble  instrument 


i.  ^ 


IV 


PREFACE 


of  good,  and  desiring  to  be  content  with  the  smallest 
portion  of  human  approbation  which  may  be  awarded 
to  it,  the  Author  commits  his  little  volume  to  the  press, 
with  many  prayers  for  the  spiritual  benefit  of  those 
into  whose  hands  it  may  fall,  and  for  the  advancement 
of  the  glory  of  that  Saviour  whom  he  would  desire  to 
serve. 


Chelsea^  May^  1831. 


CONTENTS 


HISTORY  OF  ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE  I. 


Genesis  xii.  1. 

‘‘  Now  the  Lord  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country  and 
from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father’s  house,  unto  a land  that  I will 
show  thee.”  ^ 

Abram  called  by  God  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees — Abram’s  faith  and 
obedience, 13 


LECTURE  II. 

Genesis  xii.  7,  8. 

“ The  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram,  and  said.  Unto  thy  seed  will  I give 
this  land ; and  there  builded  he  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared 
unto  him.  And  he  removed  from  thence  unto  a mountain  on  the  east 
of  Bethel,  and  pitched  his  tent,  having  Bethel  on  the  west,  and  Hai  on 
the  east : and  there  he  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord.” 

The  Lord  appears  to  Abram  at  Sichem — Abram  builds  an  altar  to  the 
Lord,  and  calls  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  ...  ...  24 


LECTURE  III. 

Genesis  xiii.  2. 

“ And  Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold.” 

A famine  in  Canaan — Abram’s  journey  into  Egypt — Abram  equivocates 
with  Pharaoh — Abram  becomes  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver  and  in 
gold,  but  still  calls  on  the  name  of  the  Lord, 35 

1* 


6 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  IV. 


Geitesis  xiii.  8. 

‘‘  And  Abram  said  unto  Lot,  Let  there  be  no  strife,  1 pray  thee,  be- 
tween me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen,  for  we 
be  brethren.” 

A strife  between  the  herdmen  of  Abram  and  the  herdmen  of  Lot — > 
Abram’s  disinterested  conduct — separation  of  Abram  and  Lot — The 
Lord  appears  to  Abram  after  Lot  had  left  him,  . . . > 44 


LECTURE  V. 

Genesis  xiv.  18. 

“ And  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  brought  forth  bread  and  wine : and 
he  was  the  priest  of  the  Most  High  God : and  he  blessed  him.” 

Abram  arms  his  servants  and  conquers  five  of  the  kings  of  Canaan — 
Abram’s  interview  with  Melchizedek, 53 


LECTURE  VI. 


Genesis  xv.  6. 

“ He  believed  in  the  Lord ; and  he  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness.” 

Abram’s  interview  with  the  king  of  Sodom — Abram  reminds  the 
Almighty  of  his  promise  of  a son — The  Almighty  confirms  the 
promise, .61 


LECTURE  VIL 


^ Genesis  xv.  17. 

“ And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  sun  went  down  and  it  was  dark, 
behold  a smoking  furnace  and  a burning  lamp  that  passed  between  those 
pieces.” 

The  Almighty  reveals  Himself  to  Abram  as  the  God  who  brought  him 
out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees — Abram  asks  for  a sign  in  confirmation  of 
the  Almighty’s  promise — Abram’s  vision — A Patriarch’s  day  with 
God-— the  postponement  of  the  promised  inheritance,  . • • • 69 


CONTENTS. 


7 


LECTURE  VIII. 


O2NESIS  xvii.  1. 

«An(l  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  on  the  plains  of  Mamre.’’ 

A^braiif  s marriage  with  Hagar — The  rite  of  circumcision  instituted — The 
Almighty  changes  Abram’s  and  Sarai’s  name — Abraham’s  laughter — • 
The  visit  of  the  three  Angels  to  Abraham — -Sarah’s  laughter,  . 78 


LECTURE  IX. 


Genesis  xviii.  19. 

**  For  I know  him,  that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord.” 

Abraham’s  care  for  the  religious  instruction  of  his  family  and  household 
— Abraham’s  intercession  for  the  cities  of  the  plain,  ....  86 

LECTURE  X. 

Genesis  xxi.  10. 

“ She  said  unto  Abraham,  Cast  out  this  bondwoman  and  her  son : for  the 
son  of  this  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac.” 

Abraham  equivocates  with  Abimelech — The  birth  of  Isaac — Ahraham 
makes  a great  feast  the  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned — Ishmael  mocks, 
and  is  sent  away  from  his  father’s  house,  ........  95 

LECTURE  XL 


Genesis  xxii.  8. 

“ And  Abraham  said.  My  son,  God  will  provide  himself  a Lamb  for  a 
burnt  offering.” 

The  Almighty  tempts  Abraham — The  offering  of  Isaac — God  will  pro- 
vide,   103 


LECTURE  XIL 


Genesis  xxv.  8. 

Then  Abraham  gave  up  the  ghost  and  died  in  a good  old  age,  an  old 
man  and  full  of  years ; and  was  gathered  to  his  people.” 

The  death  of  Sarah — Sarah’s  burial — Abraham’s  directions  respecting  his 
son’s  marriage — The  death  of  Abraham, 113 


8 


CONTENTS. 


HISTORY  OF  JACOB. 

LECTURE  I. 

Genesis  xxv.  27. 

‘‘Jacob  was  a plain  man,  dwelling  in  tents.’^ 

The  birth  of  Jacob — The  contrast  even  in  childhood  between  Esau  and 
Jacob — Jacob  purchases  his  brother’s  birthright — Obtains  by  subtlety 
the  blessing, 122 

LECTURE  II. 


Genesis  xxviii.  5. 

“ And  Isaac  sent  away  Jacob.” 

“ Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out” — Jacob  leaves  the  tents  of  Isaac — • 
Jacob’s  vision — Jacob  erects  a memorial  of  God’s  mercy  to  him — • 
Chooses  the  Lord  for  his  God — Jacob’s  vow, 132 


LECTURE  III. 

Genesis  xxix.  20. 

“ And  Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel,  and  they  seemed  unto  him 
but  a few  days,  for  the  love  he  had  to  her.” 

Jacob  enters  Laban’s  house  for  a few  days,  and  remains  there  twenty 
years — Jacob’s  seven  years  servitude  for  Rachel — 'Jacob  is  induced  by 
the  fraud  of  Laban  to  serve  other  seven  years — Jacob  desires  to  be  sent 
away, 143 


LECTURE  IV. 

Genesis  xxxii.  11. 

“ Deliver  me,  I pray  thee,  from  the  hand  of  my  brother,  from  the  hand 
of  Esau.” 

Jacob  sends  messages  to  deprecate  Esau’s  resentment — Jacob’s  confession 
of  unworthiness  before  God — Jacob  wrestles  with  an  angel,  . .153 

LECTURE  V. 

Genesis  xxxii.  4. 

“ And  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck  and 
kissed  him,  and  they  wept.” 

Jacob  beholds  Esau  coming  with  four  hundred  men — Esau  meets  Jacob 
in  peace — The  Almighty  reminds  Jacob  of  his  vow,  . . . .165 


CONTE  NTS. 


9 


LECTURE  VI. 


Genesis  xxxv.  2. 

« Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  household,  and  to  all  that  were  with  him, 
Put  away  the  strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  be  clean,  and  change 
your  garments.’’ 

Jacob’s  family  disappointments — Jacob  removes  the  strange  gods  out  of 
his  family — -The  death  of  Rachel, 178 


LECTURE  VII. 

Genesis  xlv.  part  of  26th  verse. 

‘‘  And  Jacob’s  heart  fainted,  for  he  believed  them  not.” 

Jacob  dwells  in  a land  where  his  fathers  were  strangers — Famine  in  Ca- 
naan— Jacob  sends  his  sons  into  Egypt — Jacob  receives  intelligence  of 
the  long-lost  Joseph — Jacob’s  spirit  revives  when  he  beholds  the  chariots 
which  were  to  convey  him  to  his  son, 187 


LECTURE  VIII. 

Genesis  xlvii.  8,  9. 

‘‘And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Jacob,  How  old  art  thou?  And  Jacob  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  an  hundred 
and  thirty  years ; few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been, 
and  have  not  attained  unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers 
in  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage.” 


The  Almighty  promises  Jacob  to  go  down  with  him  into  Egypt — Joseph 
goes  to  meet  Jacob  his  father — Pharaoh  asks  Jacob  his  age — The  death 
of  Jacob, 197 


10 


CONTENTS. 


HISTORY  OF  ELISHA. 

LECTURE  I. 

1 Kings  xix.  16. 

« Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat,  of  Abel-meholah,  shalt  thou  anoint  to  be 
prophet  in  thy  room.” 

Ely  ah  anointing  his  successor — Elisha  and  Elijah  on  the  banks  of  Jordan 
— Elisha’s  request — Translation  of  Elijah,  ...  ...  208 


LECTURE  11. 

2 Kings  ii.  21. 

“And  he  went  forth  unto  the  spring  of  the  waters,  and  cast  in  the  salt 
there,  and  said,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I have  healed  these  waters.” 

The  bitter  waters  made  sweet — Occasional  solitude  necessary  to  useful- 
ness— Elisha  supplies  water  to  the  hosts  of  Israel  and  Judah — The 
widow’s  vessels  miraculously  filled  with  oil,  . , 218 


LECTURE  III. 

2 Kings  iv.  26 

“ Run  now,  I pray  thee,  to  meet  her,  and  say  unto  her,  Is  it  well  with 
thy  husband  1 Is  it  well  with  the  child  1 and  she  answered,  It  is  well.” 

The  Shunammite’s  hospitality  rewarded — God’s  best  temporal  gifts  are 
often  the  most  short-lived — Death  and  restoration  of  the  Shunammite’s 
child, • • . 230 


LECTURE  IV. 

2 Kings  v.  10. 

“ And  Elisha  sent  a messenger  unto  him,  saying,  Go  and  wash  in 
Jordan  seven  times,  and  thy  flesh  shall  come  again  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
be  clean.” 
g 

Naaman  the  leper — Standing  at  the  door  of  Elisha — Refusing  the  simple 
remedy — Yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  his  servants — Healed,  . • 242 


CONTENTS. 


11 


LECTURE  V. 

2 Kings  v.  26. 

“ And  he  said  unto  him,  Went  not  mine  heart  with  thee,  when  the  man 
turned  again  from  his  chariot  to  meet  thee  V* 

Naaman  returning  with  gratitude  to  Elisha — Requests  pardon  for  bowing 
in  the  house  of  Rimmon — Gehazi  deceives  Naaman — Detected  and 
punished  by  Elisha — The  omnipresence  of  God,  ......  253 

LECTURE  VI. 

2 Kings  vi.  17. 

“ And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I pray  thee,  open  his  eyes,  that 
he  may  see.  And  the  I.iOrd  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man,  and  he 
saw.  And,  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  Elisha.’* 

The  omniscience  of  God — The  eyes  of  Elisha’s  servant  are  opened  to 
behold  the  hosts  of  heaven — The  different  feelings  by  which  the  opening 
of  the  eyes  of  saints  and  sinners  shall  be  accompanied  on  the  last  great 
day, 266 


LECTURE  VII. 

2 Kings  vii.  18. 

“ It  came  to  pass  as  the  man  of  God  had  spoken.” 

The  famine  in  Samaria — Plenty  foretold — Th-e  unbelieving  lord — His 
punishment, 278 

LECTURE  VIII. 

2 Kings  viii.  5. 

“ And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  was  telling  the  King  how  he  had  restored 
a dead  body  to  life,  that,  behold,  the  woman,  whose  son  he  had  restored 
to  life,  cried  to  the  king  for  her  house  and  for  her  land.” 

The  Shunammite  flies  from  the  approaching  famine — Returns — Begs  her 
house  and  lands  of  the  king — Providential  circumstances  attending  her 
request — The  doctrine  of  a particular  Providence, 286 

LECTURE  IX. 

2 Kings  viii.  13. 

**  And  Hazael  said.  But  what,  is  thy  servant  a dog,  that  he  should  do 
this  great  thing  I” 

Benhadad’s  illness — Sends  ' Hazael  to  Elisha — The  misery  of  fore- 
knowledge— The  comfort  of  it  to  the  Christian — Hazael’s  self-ig- 
norance— Deceives  and  destroys  liis  master, 296 


12 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  X. 

2 Kings  ix.  36. 

**  This  is  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  spake  by  his  servant  Elisha  the 
Tishbite.” 

Elisha’s  last  commission — The  privilege  of  being  allowed  to  work  tor  God 
— Modern  revival  of  ancient  errors — Jehu  anointed — Smites  Jehoram 
— God’s  threatenings  as  sure  as  his  promises, 306 

LECTURE  XI. 

2 Kings  xiii.  14. 

Now  Elisha  had  fallen  sick  of  his  sickness  whereof  he  died,  and  Joash 
the  king  of  Israel  came  down  unto  him,  and  wept  over  his  face  and  said, 
O my  father,  my  father  ! the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof.” 

The  most  thoughtless  sometimes  momentarily  affected  by  the  death  of  the 
righteous — Elisha’s  dying  chamber — Visit  of  king  Joash — His  grief 
— His  faith — His  want  of  faith — Lukewarm  Christians — Elisha’s 
death, 318 


LECTURES 


ON  THE 

HISTORY  OF  ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE  I. 

Genesis  xii.  1. 

Now  the  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and 
from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father’s  house,  unto  a land  that  I will 
show  thee.” 

The  history  of  Abraham  is,  on  many  accounts,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  instructive  which  the  pencil  of  inspiration 
has  ever  drawn.  The  sacred  historian  has  entered  more  into 
detail,  has  appeared  to  dwell  longer  upon  the  prominent  features 
of  the  character,  and  has  given  us  more  pictures  of  the  domes- 
tic life  and  manners  of  this  patriarch  than  of  any  other.  He 
has  indeed  occupied  a larger  portion  of  the  sacred  volume 
upon  this  single  narrative,  than  upon  the  whole  history  of  the 
world,  from  the  creation  to  the  time  of  Abraham.  Nor  shall 
we  be  surprised  at  the  remarkable  pre-eminence  thus  afforded 
to  the  subject  of  our  present  consideration,  if  we  remember 
that  Abraham  was  selected  by  the  Almighty  in  an  especial 
manner,  and  for  an  especial  purpose  ; no  less  indeed  than  to  be 
the  progenitor  of  a people  to  whom  God  should  peculiarly 
reveal  himself,  whom  he  should  invest  with  knowledge  and 
privileges  far  above  all  other  nations,  to  whom  alone,  he  should, 
for  a series  of  ages,  commit  the  divine  oracles,  and  of  whom, 
as  concerning  the  flesh,”  the.  Messiah  of  God  sliould  come. 

2 13 


14 


A B U A II  A M. 


The  life  of  so  remarkable  a person,  therefore,  as  related  to 
ns  by  Moses,  cannot  but  be  an  object  of  interest  to  all to  the 
literary  man  as  the  only  authentic  history  of  a great  and  pow- 
erful prince,  the  fabulous  accounts  of  whom  he  meets  with  in 
the  early  literature  of  almost  every  nation  of  antiquity ; for^ 
the  ancient  Persians,  the  Hindoos,  the  Jews,  the  Lacedemo- 
nians, and  the  Arabians,  all  unite  with  ourselves  in  celebrating 
the  name  of  Abraham ; to  the  Christian  as  a minute  and  cir- 
cumstantial history  of  a man  of  God,  who  was  honoured  with 
the  closest  and  most  wonderful  intercourse  with  the  great 
Jehovah,  whose  life  was  regulated  by  that  principle  of  living 
and  influential  faith,  which  he  desires  to  be  the  one  constraining 
principle  within  his  own  bosom,  and  who  has  obtained  a por- 
tion so  near  the  throne  of  the  Most  High,  that  to  lie  “ in 
Abraham’s  bosom,”  is  only  another  term  for  heavenly  happi- 
ness and  eternal  bliss. 

The  first  mention  which  is  made  of  Abram  in  holy  writ,  is 
in  the  11th  chapter  of  Genesis,  where  we  learn  that  he  was  the 
son  of  Terah,  and  born  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  At  the  period 
when  he  was  born,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  God  was  retained  in  its  purity,  by  any  single  nation, 
or  even  by  any  single  family  among  the  sons  of  men.  At  the 
death  of  Noah,  which  occurred  only  two  years  before  the  birth 
of  Abram,  the  unadulterated  worship  of  the  God  of  the  Bible 
appears  to  have  become  almost  extinct,  for  even  the  family  of 
Abram,  and,  in  all  probability  in  his  earlier  years,  Abram  him- 
self, were  idolaters.  Of  this  important  fact  in  his  history,  we 
are  informed  in  the  book  of  Joshua,  “ Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  Your  fathers  dwelt  on  the  other  side  of  the 
flood  (the  river  Euphrates)  in  old  time,  even  Terah,  the  father 
of  Abraham,  and  the  father  of  Nachor : and  they  served 

OTHER  GODS.” 

It  was  while  living  thus  in  his  father’s  house,  and  not  until 
he  had  attained  the  age  of  seventy  years,  that  we  are  informed 
in  the  11th  chapter  of  Genesis,  with  the  brevity  of  Scripture 
* See  Townsend’s  Chronological  Arrangement,  &c.,  in  loco. 


LECTURE  I. 


15 


history,  that  “ Terali  took  Abram  his  son,  anJ  Lot  his  son’s 
son,  and  Sarai  his  daughter-in-law,  his  son  Abram’s  wife,  and 
they  went  forth  with  them  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  to  go  into 
the  land  of  Canaan,  and  tliey  came  into  Haran,  or  (Charran,) 
and  dwelt  there,  and  Terah  died  in  Haran.”  Had  this  been 
all  that  was  recorded,  we  should  have  been  left  completely  in 
doubt  whether  this  removal  from  the  idolatrous  country  in 
which  he  was  born,  were  the  spontaneous  act  of  Abram’s 
father,  or  a revelation  of  the  divine  will  to  Abram  himself.  By 
a reference,  however,  to  the  succinct  account  of  the  history  of 
their  forefathers,  with  which  Stephen  commences  his  address 
to  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  in  the  7th  chapter  of  the  Acts,  we 
find  that  “ the  God  of  glory  appeared  unto  Abraham  before 
he  dwelt  in  Charran,”  and  gave  him  the  order  for  the  removal 
of  himself  and  of  his  family,  so  briefly  recorded  by  Moses. 
This  then  was  the  commencement  of  that  astonishing  inter- 
course between  the  great  Jehovah,  and  his  faithful  and  obedient 
servant,  which  obtained  for  Abram  the  honourable  appellations 
of  “ the  father  of  the  faithful,”  and  the  “friend  of  God.” 
Whatever  might  be  the  nature  of  this  appearance  of  the  “ God 
of  glory”  referred  to  by  Stephen,  it  was  obvious  that  it  was 
such  as  to  satisfy  Abram  of  the  reality  of  the  command,  and 
of  the  truth,  and  power,  and  faithfulness  of  Him  who  delivered 
it.  It  was  not  yet  however  fully  obeyed;  Abram  and  his 
father  and  family  had  left  the  land  of  the  Chaldees,  but  had 
proceeded  only  to  Haran,  still  three  hundred  miles  distant  from 
Canaan.  Whilst  they  tarried  at  Haran,  Abraham’s  father  died ; 
and  it  appears  from  the  opening  of  the  12th  chapter,  that  the 
command  was  again  repeated  to  Abram  in  the  words  of  the 
text,  with  the  accompanying  promises  : “ I will  make  of  thee 
a great  nation,  and  I will  bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name  great ; 
and  thou  shalt  be  a blessing : and  I will  bless  them  that  bless 
thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee ; and  in  thee  shall  all 
frimilies  of  the  earth  be  blessed.” 

The  immediate  consequence  of  this  declaration  was,  that 
Abram,  although  so  far  advanced  in  life  that  he  might  not  un- 


16 


ABRAHAM. 


naturally  have  expostulated  against  such  a renunciation  of  his 
country,  his  kindred,  and  his  home,  at  once  obeyed  the  divine 
command ; for  we  are  told,  “ So  Abram  departed  as  the  lA)rd 
had  spoken,”  “ and  took  with  him  Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot  his 
brother’s  son,  and  all  their  substance  that  they  had  gathered, 
and  the  souls  that  they  had  gotten  in  Haran : and  they  went 
forth  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  into  the  land  of  Canaan 
they  came.” 

It  is  essential  that  at  the  commencement  of  a history  from 
which  we  trust,  by  the  aid  of  the  divine  Spirit,  to  derive  much 
Christian  edification  and  improvement,  we  should  learn  rightly 
to  estimate  the  nature  of  that  principle  w'hich  formed  the  one 
great  spring  of  Abraham’s  conduct,  the  motive  of  every  act  of 
holy  obedience  which  marked  his  eventful  life. 

This,  happily,  is  not  left  to  conjecture,  for  the  apostle  to  the 
Hebrews  expressly  says,  “ by  faith,  Abraham,  when  he  was 
called  to  go  out  into  a place  which  he  should  after  receive  for 
an  inheritance,  obeyed,  and  he  went  out,  not  knowing  whither 
he  went.” 

His  obedience  then  is  at  once  declared  to  be  the  obedience  of 
faith,  the  fruit  of  his  entire  trust  in  the  promises,  and  depend- 
ence upon  the  word  of  that  God,  at  whose  command  he  went 
forth. 

But  before  we  can  make  any  practical  application  of  this  to 
our  own  case,  we  must  inquire  still  further  into  the  nature  and 
extent  of  this  faith,  that  we  may  learn  whether  it  be  such  that 
we  ourselves  may  by  divine  grace  be  made  partakers  ot  it. 

Abraham  believed,  then,  without  hesitation  and  without 
reserve,  all  that  God  had  revealed  to  him — that  he  should  be- 
come a great  nation ; improbable  as  it  was,  “ he  against  hope 
believed  in  hope,”  and  “ staggered  not  at  the  promise  through 
unbelief,  but  was  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God  ; being 
fully  persuaded  that  what  he  had  promised,  he  was  able  also  to 
perform  that  God  “ would  bless  them  that  blessed  him,  and 
curse  them  that  cursed  him  that  “ he  should  be  a blessing 
and  above  all,  as  the  paramount  mercy  of  tlie  promise,  that  in 


LECTURE  I. 


17 


him,  i.  e.  in  his  seed,  even  (as  the  Apostle  to  the  Galatians 
explains  it)  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  who  should  descend  from 
his  loins,  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed. 

We  cannot  profess  to  determine  with  what  degree  of  clear- 
ness these  wonderful  truths  were  presented  to  the  mind  of  the 
patriarch,  but  they  were  so  presented,  and  with  sufficient 
accuracy  to  be  savingly  received  and  duly  appreciated,  and  to 
become  as  a mainspring  of  action  most  powerfully  influential, 
we  cannot  doubt,  without  at  the  same  time  doubting  the  express 
declaration  of  our  Lord  himself,  when  he  said,  “ Your  father 
Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad.” 
We  believe,  therefore,  that  in  the  words  of  this  promise,  a 
prospect,  however  imperfect  and  indistinct,  was  laid  open  to 
the  eye  of  the  patriarch,  of  the  “ day”  of  the  Redeemer,  of  the 
time  when  he  should  come  in  the  flesh,  as  a Son  of  Abraham, 
and  by  his  one  great  sacrifice,  bless  for  ever  all  the  families  of 
the  earth,  from  the  children  of  Adam  to  his  last  descendant ; 
and  we  are  corroborated  in  this  view  by  that  declaration  of  the 
apostle  to  the  Galatians,  in  which  he  expressly  states  that  “ faith 
was  preached  before  the  Gospel  unto  Abraham,”  when  it  was 
declared  to  him,  “ In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed.”  We 
believe  therefore,  that 'faith  in  that  astonishing  declaration  of  the 
Most  High,  a prospective  faith  in  the  only  Saviour  of  the 
world,  was  the  feeling  which  bound  the  heart  of  Abram  to  his 
God ; which  made  it  a matter  of  the  most  perfect  indifference 
to  him,  what  he  should  leave  behind  him,  from  whom  he  should 
separate,  or  whither  he  should  go,  if  the  Lord  were  his  guide, 
and  if  an  interest  in  these  “exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises”  were  indeed  his  own. 

We  have  thought  it  necessary  thus  fully  to  consider  two 
very  essential  circumstances  in  this  opening  page  of  Abram’s 
history — 1.  The  nature  of  Abram’s  obedience;  and  2.  The 
faith  from  which  it  sprung — because  we  believe  that  in  the 
word  of  God,  there  are  both  commands  and  promises  ad- 
dressed to  all  to  whom  that  word  is  sent,  to  induce  them  to  act 
in  a manner  remarkably  similar  to  the  Father  of  the  faithful 

2* 


18 


ABRAHAM. 


l.umself ; while  we  still  further  believe,  that  it  is  only  by  possess- 
ing Abram’s  faiths  that  we  shall  be  able  to  im  itate  Abram’s 
obedience^  or  with  him  be  willing  to  yield  to  the  command,  and 
to  appreciate  the  promise,  of  the  Most  High. 

I shall  proceed,  then,  to  endeavour  to  establish  this  assertion 
by  pointing  out,  that  there  is  in  the  word  of  God  the  strongest 
line  of  demarcation  drawn  between  God’s  people — not  his  pro- 
fessing, but  his  believing  and  obeying  people — and  the  people 
of  the  world  ; that  to  the  latter,  from  their  sins  and  their  follies, 
their  pleasures  and  their  pursuits,  there  is  as  decided  and  distinct 
a command  to  come  forth  and  be  separate,  and  as  positive  a 
promise  attached  to  the  obedience  of  this  command,  as  there 
was  to  Abram  to  leave  the  land  of  his  nativity,  “ Love  not  the 
world,”  says  St.  John,  “ neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is 
not  in  him.  For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  the 
Father,  but  is  of  the  world.”  “ Be  not  ye  unequally  yoked 
with  unbelievers,”  says  the  apostle  to  the  Corinthians,  “ for 
what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness  ? and 
what  communion  hath  light  with  darkness  ? Wherefore  come 
out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  said  the  Lord,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing ; and  I will  receive  you,  and  will  be 
a Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters,  saith 
.the  Lord  Almighty.” 

It  is  vain  to  say,  as  persons  do  often  affect  to  say,  that  this 
command  was  peculiar  to  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  and  that 
the  world  applies  only  to  the  world  of  Gentile  idolaters.  Had 
this  been  the  view  taken  of  it  by  our  church,  she  never  would 
have  required  from  her  members  so  distinct  and  positive  a 
promise,  still  to  “ renounce  the  worlds  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,” 
putting  them  all  upon  an  equality,  and  thus  decidedly  and  un- 
equivocally condemning  “ the  pomps  and  vanities  of  this  wicked 
world,”  which  form  the  very  attractions  which  the  people  of 
the  world,  at  the  present  day,  and  in  every  Christian  country, 
love  the  most  dearly  and  leave  the  most  reluctandy.  A sepa- 


LECTURE  I. 


19 


ration  then,  “ in  the  spirit  of  your  mind,”  from  all  these  things, 
is  commanded  in  Scripture,  is  enforced  by  our  church,  and 
must  be  conscientiously  aimed  at  by  every  sincere  believer  who 
is  desirous  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  Abraham. 

This  is,  we  are  aware,  too  often  considered  “ a hard  saying,” 
and  one  against  which  the  heart  rebels  more  resolutely,  and  the 
world  clamours  more  loudly,  than  against  almost  any  other : 
but  it  admits  of  no  compromise,  no  qualifying ; it  is  the  word 
of  God,  and  as  such  must  be  received  entire,  or  rejected  entire. 
It  is  not  left  to  you  to  embrace  the  promise  and  to  modify  the 
command  ; they  stand  or  fall  together.  If  you  are  of  the  world, 
the  world  will  love  its  own ; you  will  be  acknowledged,  and 
courted,  and  flattered  ; but  then  you  must  be  prepared  to  stand 
with  the  world  and  fall  with  the  world ; for  “ the  friendship  of 
the  world  is  enmity  with  God,”  and  his  unerring  word  is 
pledged,  that  “ the  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the 
people  that  forget  God.”  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  will  come 
out  and  be  separate  ; if  you  are  willing  to  be  as  the  word  of 
God  describes  the  people  of  God,  “a  peculiar  people,  zealous 
of  good  works,”  “ the  world  being  crucified  to  you,  and  you 
unto  the  world  ;”  the  word  of  God  is  equally  strongly  pledged 
that  you  shall  be  received  and  acknowledged,  loved  and  directed, 
guided  and  supported  here,  and  “ kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation.” 

Believing  these  to  be  the  plain  and  positive  injunctions  of 
holy  writ,  and  at  the  same  time  knowing  them  to  be  most 
foreign  to  the  feelings  of  the  natural  man,  how,  as  the  ministers 
of  God,  are  we  to  act  towards  you  our  hearers  ? Are  we  “ to 
prophesy  smooth  things  ?”  Are  we  to  say — “ It  is  true  that 
you  promised  in  your  baptismal  covenant  to  ‘ renounce  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,’  but  this  only  alluded  to  gross 
enormities ; the  pleasures  of  the  world  can  only  become  danger- 
ous from  excess,  and  with  regard  to  its  ‘ pomps  and  vanities,’ 
the  measure  of  them  which  you  enjoy  is  extremely  harmless  ; 
be  content,  therefore,  remain  where  you  are  ; God  will  not  re- 
quire so  painful  a separation ; continue  the  double  service  in 


20 


A B R A n /iL  M. 


which  you  are  engaged ; and  while  your  heart  is  partially  en- 
grossed by  the  world,  give  to  God  all  that  you  can  reasonably 
afford  Him  of  your  time,  your  affections,  and  your  talents,  and 
he  will  require  no  more  ?”  Can  we  speak  thus,  my  brethren  ? 
Ought  we,  if  we  love  your  souls,  to  hazard,  for  the  sake  of  a 
little  short-lived  popularity,  these  jewels  of  inestimable  value  ? 
No  ; better,  far  better  that  we  should  become  your  enemy  bj 
speaking  the  truth ; better  that  we  should  become,  with  the 
apostles  before  ns,  “ as  the  offscouring  of  all  things,”  than  th  it 
we  should  jeopard  one  soul  committed  to  our  charge,  by  moli- 
fying  the  terms  of  that  message  with  which  our  divine  lei 
has  intrusted  us. 

The  present  is  an  age  of  great  religious  profession  ; it  h no 
longer  considered  discreditable  as  it  might  have  been  some  few 
years  since,  to  be  seen  scrupulously  attending  upon  all  the 
divine  ordinances,  or  even  to  be  known  to  read  the  Bible,  ai  d to 
pray  in  private.  Thanks  be  to  God,  the  increased  and  incr  eas- 
ing growth  of  these  things  has  comparatively  silenceC”  the 
scoffers  ; and  a man  may  now  serve  God,  if  not  withou  the 
secret  contempt  of  the  ungodly,  at  least  without  their  >pen 
ribaldry  and  scorn.  All  ranks  and  all  classes  have,  in  this 
favoured  country  at  least,  felt  the  powerful  effects  of  that  “ little 
leaven”  which  is  slowly,  but  certainly,  leavening  the  w hole 
mass,  and  preparing  for  the  bright  display  of  that  meridian  sun 
which  will,  in  God’s  good  time,  throw  its  quickening  b(  ams 
into  the  darkest  corners  of  this  dark  world  of  ours. 

But  while  this  is  matter  of  real  and  heartfelt  gratitude  to  every 
sincere  follower  of  our  Lord,  it  is  not  unaccompanied  by  its 
peculiar  dangers  and  temptations.  Many  who,  when  a pro- 
fession of  vital  godliness  was  more  proscribed  and  ridiculed 
than  at  present,  united  with  its  enemies,  and  re-echOed  the  vapid 
joke,  or  joined  in  the  empty  sneer,  are  now  found  swelling 
the  ranks  of  its  nominal  admirers.  It  is  therefore  more  in- 
cumbent than  ever  upon  ministers  to  state  clearly,  and  beyond 
the  possibility  of  misapprehension,  what  the  Gospel  really 
requires  of  its  followers  upon  this  point ; and  it  is  as  incumbeni 


LECTURE  I, 


21 


upon  the  true  and  sincere  friends  of  the  Gospel,  by  their  entire 
and  visible  and  decided  separation  from  the  world  of  the  un- 
godly, by  their  habitual  conformity  to  the  example  and  image 
of  their  divine  Master,  to  evidence  to  all  men  that  “ they  are 
not  of  the  world,  even  as  He  was  not  of  the  world.” 

You  will  not,  my  Christian  brethren,  even  now  be  enabled 
to  do  this  consistently  and  conscientiously  without  exciting  the 
remarks,  and  it  may  be,  the  censures  or  the  ridicule  of  the 
foolish,  the  ungodly,  and  the  profane.  And  although 
tion  is  too  strong  a word  to  apply  to  the  species  of  opposition 
to  which  you  will  be  called,  be  assured  there  will  be  still  much 
to  prove  your  resolution,  to  try  your  faith,  to  exercise  your 
love.  You  will  sometimes  find  difficulties  and  opposition  even 
from  those  to  whom  you  are  most  closely  connected,  and  from 
whom  you  reasonably  expect  to  receive  approbation  and  en- 
couragement ; but  this  must  not  be  permitted  to  arrest  or  to 
deter  you.  When  Abram  first  proposed  to  his  relatives  and 
friends  his  projected  departure  from  the  scenes  of  his  childhood, 
the  associates  of  his  youth,  the  friends  and  counsellors  of  his 
maturer  age ; when  he  declared  that  he  was  about  to  turn  away, 
and  for  ever,  from  all  that  interested  and  gratified  those  around 
him,  what  do  you  imagine  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  his 
auditors  ? When  he  told  them  that  he  was  about  to  seek  a 
country  of  which  he  knew  not  even  the  name — in  fact,  of  every 
particular  of  which  he  was  utterly  ignorant,  except  that  the 
Almighty  had  pledged  his  word  to  conduct  him  thither ; and 
that  his  own  dependence  upon  his  God  assured  him  it  would 
be  worth  his  labour ; — do  you  not  think  there  must  have  been 
many  an  incredulous  smile,  many  a secret  sarcasm,  many  an 
open  remonstrance  ? And  in  what  manner  was  Abram  able 
to  meet  these  trying  circumstances  ? He  could  avail  himself 
of  no  argument  to  combat  the  objections  of  his  friends,  of  no 
representations  of  worldly  aggrandizement  to  silence  their 
scruples,  for  he  knew  comparatively  nothing  of  the  enterprise 
m which  he  was  engaging:  but  this  he  did  know,  that  “He 
was  faithful  who  had  promised,”  and  upon  that  simple  de- 


22 


ABRAHAM. 


pendence  he  acted,  and  would  have  been  content  to  act,  though 
a world  in  arms  had  opposed  his  progress. 

So  must  it  be  with  yourselves.  It  is  vain  to  talk  of  giving 
up  the  world,  of  separating  from  its  follies,  of  renouncing  its 
sins,  until  you  have,  as  the  apostle  expresses  it,  “ obtained 
like  precious  faith  with  him,  through  the  righteousness  of  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.”  Without  this,  every  step  will 
be  difficult  and  laborious,  and  in  the  end  futile  and  disappoint- 
ing. But  once  acquire,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
freely  offered  to  all  who  seek  him,  a full  and  complete  depend- 
ence upon  the  word  and  promises  of  God,  upon  the  merits 
and  righteousness  of  your  Redeemer,  and  all  will  be  easy. 
With  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  your  heart,  and  the  desire 
of  obeying  him  here,  and  of  living  with  him  for  ever  hereafter, 
in  full  possession  of  your  mind,  no  self-denials  will  be  too 
great,  no  sacrifice  too  costly.  Like  Abram,  you  will  be  content 
to  separate,  “ in  the  spirit  of  your  mind,”  from  every  allure- 
ment wffiich  would  detain  you  from  the  heavenward  journey; 
and,  like  him,  in  obeying  the  command,  you  will  inherit  the 
promise,  “ I will  bless  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  a blessing ;”  you 
will  not  indeed  necessarily  become  great  and  affluent,  but  then 
‘ the  little  that  the  righteous  hath  is  better  than  the  riches  of 
the  ungodly,”  and  you  shall  assuredly  be  a blessing  to  all 
around  you,  as  a son,  a husband,  a father,  in  fact  in  every  rela- 
tionship in  life.  Once  having  taken  the  decided  step  of  de- 
claring yourself  for  God,  in  opposition  to  the  idolatry  and  follies 
of  the  world,  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  daily  and  hourly 
manifestations  of  His  providence  and  love,  in  diminishing  your 
difficulties  and  sweetening  your  labours.  You  will  find  indeed 
that  the  yoke  of  Christ  is  easy  and  his  burden  light.  For 
every  evil  companion  you  forsake.  He  will  raise  you  up  Chris- 
tian friends;  for  every  worldly  pleasure  you  relinquish.  He 
will  present  you  with  spiritual  joys ; and  should  you  ever  for- 
feit the  countenance  and  affection  of  those,  who  ought  to  en- 
courage you  on  the  heavenly  road.  He  will  himself  be  more, 
infinitely  more,  than  they  have  ever  been,  or  can  be  to  you— 


LECTURE  I. 


23 


your  father,  your  counsellor,  and  your  abiding  and  ever-present 
friend. 

What  more  can  you  desire  ? — that  the  end  of  your  journey 
should  be  prosperous  ? Do  not  for  a moment  doubt  it.  No  ; 
He  who  only  promised  Abram  to  show  him  the  land,  has 
promised  you  that  it  shall  be  your  own  ; He  will  never  leave 
you  or  forsake  you  until  He  has  carried  you  to  the  haven 
where  you  would  be ; for  your  Lord  has  said,  and  He  will 
bring  it  to  pass,  “ Father,  I will  that  they  whom  thou  hast 
given  me  be  with  me  where  I am,  that  they  may  behold  my 
glory.” 


24 


ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE  11. 

Genesis  xii.  7,  8. 

The  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram,  and  said,  Unto  thy  seed  will  I give 
this  land;  and  there  builded  he  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared 
unto  him.  And  he  removed  from  thence  unto  a mountain  on  the  east 
of  Bethel,  and  pitched  his  tent,  having  Bethel  on  the  west,  and  Hai  on 
the  east ; and  there  he  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord.” 

In  our  first  lecture  on  the  history  of  Abram,  we  beheld  him, 
in  obedience  to  the  divine  direction,  leaving  the  land  of  his 
nativity,  and  going  forth  into  a land  which  God  had  promised 
to  s/iow  him. 

This  was  at  present  the  whole  extent  of  tlie  promise  regard- 
ing the  land  of  Canaan  ; God  had  promised  to  show  it  to  him, 
and  he  had  fulfilled  his  promise,  for  we  are  told  that  Abram 
came  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  “ passed  through  the  land 
unto  the  place  of  Sichem,  unto  the  plain  of  Moreh,”  The 
“ place  of  Sichem”  was  that  spot  which  was  rendered  famous 
in  the  next  generation  by  the  well  of  Jacob,  and  is  known  by 
every  Bible  reader  as  the  Sychar  of  the  New  Testament,  where 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  “ wearied  with  his  journey,”  sat 
upon  this  well,  and  conversed  with  the  woman 'of  Samaria.  It 
was  about  the  middle  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  so  that  Abram 
had  travelled  over  a large  portion  of  his  future  inheritance, 
without  receiving  even  a hint  from  the  Almighty  that  tliis  was 
the  land  which  the  Lord  had  promised  to  show  him.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  trial  of  Abram’s  faith,  we  are  told  that  “ the 
Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land,”  an  idolatrous  and  warlike 
people,  the  presence  of  whom  must  have  tended  to  render  the 
journey  of  the  patriarch  still  more  arduous  and  painful. 

When,  however,  Abram  had  reached  Sichem,  we  are  told 
that  “ the  Lord  appeared  unto  him,  and  said,  Unto  thy  seed 
will  I give  this  land.”  The  promise  was  now  for  tlie  first 


LECTURE  II. 


25 


time  revealed  to  him,  that  the  land  was  not  merely  to  be  shown 
to  him,  but  given  to  him  ; and  of  this  he  was  assured  by  the 
express  word  of  God  himself.  It  may  not  be  unnecessary  to 
remind  you,  that  in  all  these  instances  in  the  Old  Testament 
where  it  is  explicitly  stated,  that  “ God  appeared,”  so  that  there 
was  some  visible  manifestation  of  the  great  Jehovah,  indepen- 
dently of  the  schechinah,  or  divine  glory,  the  difficulty  of  re- 
conciling such  appearance  with  the  declaration  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  “no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time,”  is 
easily  and  scripturally  surmounted  by  all  who  hold  the  true 
and  catholic  doctrine  of  the  real  divinity  of  our  ever-blessed 
Saviour.  He  it  was,  even  the  second  person  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  who  thus  from  time  to  time  manifested  himself,  and 
in  all  probability  in  human  form,  to  Adam  and  to  Abram,  and 
to  Jacob  and  to  Moses,  and  by  this  means  kept  up  a continual 
expectation  among  the  sons  of  men,  of  the  time  when  he  should 
in  a still  more  remarkable  manner  take  our  nature  upon  Him, 
and  dwell  with  us.  It  seems  by  no  means  impossible  that  the 
traditionary  accounts  of  these  primeval  appearances  of  the  Son 
of  God,  may  have  been  the  groundwork  of  the  fabulous  state- 
ments of  the  incarnations  of  their  imaginary  deities,  which  we 
meet  with  so  frequently  in  the  Hindoo,  Grecian,  and  Roman 
mythologies.  He  then,  even  God  the  Son,  appeared  unto 
Abram,  and  promised  that  all  the  country  through  which  he  was 
travelling  should  be  made  over  to  his  heirs  for  ever.  No 
sooner  had  this  astonishing  annunciation  been  revealed,  than  we 
read,  “ there  builded  Abram  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  who  ap- 
peared unto  him.” 

This  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Abram,  that  any  act  of 
worship  or  sacrifice  to  the  Almighty  is  recorded;  doubtless,  it 
was  a thank-offering,  to  express  his  gratitude  to  God  for  tfie 
promise  He  had  just  made  of  the  land  of  Canaan  to  Abram’s 
posterity,  and  to  mark,  at  the  same  time,  his  entire  and  unhesi- 
tating belief  in  it.  The  same  circumstance  is  again  recorded  in 
the  following  verse;  after  Abram  had  advanced  still  further 
til  rough  tlie  country,  and  arrived  at  Bethel,  “there  builded  he 

3 


ABRAHAM. 


2^ 

an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.^’ 
According  to  an  eminent"*^  Hebrew  scholar,  this  might  have 
been  translated,  “ in  the  name  of  the  Lord,’^’  in  which  case  it 
would  open  to  us  a very  beautiful  development  of  the  nature  of 
Abram’s  faith  ; that  he  called  upon  Jehovah  “ in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,”  who  had  appeared  unto  him,  even  in  the  name  of 
the  Son  of  God.  Marking  by  his  sacrifice,  and  his  prayer 
upon  the  sacrifice,  his  prospective  faith  in  the  one  great  atone- 
ment which  should  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and 
“ in  the  name”  of  Him  who  should  offer  it. 

It  is  extremely  important  that  these  acts  of  the  social  and 
public  worship  of  Abram  should  be  recorded,  as  a most  valuable 
example  tp  all  the  true  children  of  Abram  in  every  age  and 
clime. 

Consider  for  a moment  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  Abram 
at  the  time  he  thus  publicly  performed  them.  He  was  travel- 
ling. as  a great  prince,  surrounded  by  a very  numerous  retinue, 
for  we  hear  shortly  after  of  “ his  three  hundred  and  eighteen 
trained  servants,  bom  in  his  own  house,”  and  he  was  passing 
through  a country,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  idolaters. 
How  instructive,  then,  must  have  been  the  example  thus  held 
forth  by  the  father  of  the  faithful.  Whenever  he  stopped, 
though  it  were  but  for  a night,  there  he  was  seen,  unawed  by 
the  opposition,  undaunted  by  the  ridicule  of  the  idolaters  around 
him,  building  his  temporary  altar,  assembling  his  family  and  his 
household,  and  togetlier  offering  their  sacrifices  as  types  of  the 
great  atonement,  and  together  worshipping  the  only  true  and 
living  Jehovah.  » 

It  is  not  improbable  that  this  was  one  of  the  motives  of  the 
Almighty  for  calling  Abram  to  a life  of  such  continual  and 
painful  travel ; for  if  we  trace  the  journey ings  of  Abram,  we 
shall  find  that,  in  the  course  of  them,  the  great  majority  of  the 
nations  then  upon  earth  were  visited  by  this  man  of  God ; that 
he  was  in  fact  the  first  Christian  missionary,  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  living  the  gospel,  in  the  sight  of  the  inhabitants  of 


* Dr.  Gill. 


LECTURE  II. 


27 


the  world.  We  consider  that  there  is  no  anachronism  in  as- 
serting this,  for  we  find  St.  Paul  declaring  that  Moses  “ es- 
teemed the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures 
of  Egypt and  that  the  gospel  was  preached  to  the  Israelites 
in  the  wilderness,' as  well  as  unto  us.  Thus  the  Almighty 
“left  not  himself  without  a witness,”  for  every  part  of  the 
earth  through  which  Abram  passed  possessed  the  edifying 
opportunity  of  beholding  the  worsliip  of  the  true  God  in  its 
purity,  and  of  viewing  those  sacrifices  which  were  appointed 
to  keep  up  in  the  mind  of  the  spiritual  worshipper,  a perpetual 
reference  to  “ the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.” 

There  is  something  singularly  interesting  in  this  view  of  the 
motives  and  intentions  of  Abram’s  life  of  travel;  it  tends  so 
greatly  to  exalt  the  mercy  of  the  Most  High  towards  his  crea- 
tures, and  to  clear  his  justice  in  condemning  these  nations  in 
after  ages,  for  not  liking  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and 
for  their  neglect  of  those  mercies  once  so  visibly  and  strikingly 
offered  them. 

But,  my  brethren,  it  is  time  that  we  should  turn  from  these 
historical  statements,  to  the  more  immediate  application  of  the 
example  of  Abram  to  our  own  business  and  bosoms. 

You  also  are,  like  Abram,  travelling  through  a country,  tlie 
inhabitants  of  which  are  much  given  to  tlie  forgetfulness  of  the 
God  whom  it  is  your  duty  and  your  privilege  to  serve.  Let 
me  then  inquire,  are  you  in  this  respect  following  the  example 
of  that  good  man  of  whom  we  speak  ? The  word  of  God  has 
declared  that  “ they  which  be  of  faith,  the  same  are  (in  all  ages 
and  countries)  the  children  of  Abraham  but  then  our  Lord 
has  added,  “ If  ye  M^ere  the  children  of  Abraham,  ye  would  do 
the  works  of  Abraham.”  Let  me  then  inquire  : wherever  you 
are,  or  however  engaged,  do  you  remember  to  honour  God 
openly  and  unhesitatingly  ? It  is  easy  to  honour  Him  in  the 
presence  of  his  friends,  but  are  you  equally  willing  to  do  so,- 
when  in  the  society  of  his  enemies  ? The  great  trial  to  Abra- 
ham’s faith  was,  that  “ the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land  ;” 
that  wherever  he  pitched  his  tent  and  erected  his  altar,  there 


28 


ABRAHAM. 


were  the  despisers  of  God  to  oppose  or  to  ridicule.  And  in 
some  sense  the  Canaanite  is  still  in  the  land.  Is  this  a matter 
of  the  same  indifference  to  you  that  it  was  to  Abram  ? and  are 
you  ready  to  declare  yourself  in  favour  of  the  commands,  and 
the  ordinances  and  the  people  of  God,  at  all  times  and  in  all 
companies?  When  others  neglect  what  you  believe  to  be  the 
will  of  God,  do  you  persevere  in  the  practice  of  it  ? When 
others  disparage  those  whom  you,  in  your  heart,  believe  to  be 
the  people  of  God,  do  you  defend  and  support  them  ? In  these 
respects  the  cowardice,  or  rather  the  faithlessness,  of  men  is 
perfectly  astonishing,  even  to  those  who  know  the  weakness  of 
our  fallen  nature. 

There  is,  however,  a very  striking  evidence  twice  given  in 
the  text  to  the  faith  and  courage  of  Abram,  which  it  is  my 
intention,  in  the  remainder  of  the  present  discourse,  to  adopt 
more  peculiarly  as  a test  of  our  own.  We  have  seen  that  he 
never  pitched  his  tent,  even  for  a night,  without  erecting  an 
altar  to  God,  and  assembling  his  numerous  household  to  the 
worship.  Are  you,  then,  my  brethren,  equally  careful  in  the 
observance  of  this  great  duty  ? Do  you  erect  in  all  your 
dwellings  the  family  altar^  and  assemble  your  households, 
and  together  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  ? or  are  you 
strangers  to  this  important  and  valuable  duty  ? Do  you  con- 
tent yourselves  with  your  own  devotions,  and  leave  your 
family  and  household,  those  whom  God  in  his  good  providence 
has  brought  beneath  your  roof,  to  live,  and,  as  far  as  depends 
upon  you,  to  die  in  ignorance  of  Him  “ whom  truly  to  know 
is  life  eternal  ?”  If  this  be  so,  it  is  our  painful  duty  to  assure 
you,  tliat  as  Christian  masters  of  families,  you  are  neglecting 
a very  important  branch  of  your  duty  to  your  Master  which  is 
in  heaven.  He  who  is  “ no  respecter  of  persons,”  will  require 
an  account  from  you  of  every  soul  committed  to  your  charge. 
He  will  ask — “ While  under  your  roof,  had  they  the  oppor- 
tunity freely  offered  them  of  attending  the  house  and  sacraments 
of  God?  Were  they  ever  spoken  with  upon  the  importance 
of  these  things  ? Did  they  ever  hear  the  word  of  God  read  ? 


LECTURE  II. 


29 


Were  they  ever  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  family  prayer  ?” 
These  are  inquiries  which  will  one  day  be  made  of  you 
will  you  reply  to  all  or  any  of  them  in  the  negative  ? Will 
you  say — “ It  is  true,  I was  the  master  of  a Christian  house- 
hold for  ten,  twenty,  thirty  years  together  ; but  I never  thought 
it  necessary  during  that  time,  that  as  a family  we  should  bow 
the  knee  to  Thee,  or  name  together  the  name  of  Jesus.” 

My  brethren,  these  things  ought  not  so  to  be  ; you  cannot 
offer  one  reasonable  and  satisfactory  excilse  why  they  should 
be  so  : you  will  not  tell  that  God  who  seeth  in  secret,  that  you 
have  no  time  for  these  duties,  that  you  cannot  spare  one  quarter 
of  an  hour,  morning  and  evening,  for  God  ; that  you  cannot 
rise  sufficiently  early  in  the  morning,  and  that  in  the  evening 
the  nature  of  your  amusements,  and  the  hours  they  compel  you 
to  keep,  would  ill  harmonize  with  the  observance  of  such  reli- 
gious duties.  Can  you,  in  your  conscience,  believe  that  the 
God  of  heaven  and  earth  will  be  so  mocked?  You  do  not 
believe  it — it  is  impossible  ; you  would  not  venture  upon  such 
an  excuse  to  him.  O do  not  pretend  to  satisfy  yourselves  with 
so  shallow  and  so  filse  a subterfuge  ! — yes,  we  are  compelled 
to  say,  so  false  a subterfuge.  The  real  reason  often  lies  much 
deeper ; an  unholy  shame  of  being  accounted  too  earnest  in 
religion,  of  paying  more  respect  to  it  than  the  rest  of  the  world ; 
or  a consciousness  that  family  prayer  would  be  too  much  at 
variance  with  your  present  mode  of  life,  and  would  sit  awk- 
wardly and  uneasily  upon  one  who  was  living,  and  desirous  to 
live,  as  those  around  him  live,  to  ease,  to  pleasure,  and  to  sin  ; 
or,  though  last,  perhaps  the  greatest,  the  fear  of  the  world’s 
dread  laugh,  which  is  often  omnipotent  where  the  fear  of  God 
is,  alas  ! powerless  : — these  too  frequently  are  at  the  bottom  of 
this  neglect  of  God  in  our  families.  What  will  the  world  say  ? 
what  will  my  friends  think  ? are  motives  sufficiently  strong  in 
many  minds  to  resist  the  plainest  dictates  of  duty,  or  to  disarm 
the  strongest  compunctions  of  conscience.  My  brethren,  believe 
me,  they  will  not  always  be  thus  guiltily  powerful ; there  is  a 
time  coming,  when  you  wdll  be  yourselves  surprised  that  the 

3^ 


30 


ABRAHAM. 


fear  of  the  world,  or  tlie  love  of  the  world,  was  ever  permitted 
to  weigh  with  you,  even  as  the  light  dust  upon  the  balance ; 
when  all  that  you  might  have  done  for  God,  will  appear  far, 
far  too  little  ; when  all  that  you  have  neglected  to  do  for  Him, 
for  the  paltry  considerations  to  which  we  have  alluded,  will 
form  a subject  of  everlasting  astonishment  to  your  own  soul ; 
and  when  those  solemn  words  of  our  Redeemer,  will  assuredly 
be  fulfilled,  “ Whosoever  is  ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words 
in  this  adulterous  and  sinful  generation,  of  him  also  shall  the 
Son  of  man  be  ashamed  when  he  cometli  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father  with  his  holy  angels.” 

Cut  off  therefore  at  least  this  one  source  of  self-condemna- 
tion ; delay  no  longer  to  erect  the  family  altar,  and  to  “ call 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  to  read  the  word  of  God  to  your 
household,  to  confess  together  before  God  as  a household  your 
family  sins,  to  acknowledge  together  your  family  mercies,  and 
to  petition  together  for  family  blessings. 

Where  this  is  done  regularly  and  conscientiously,  it  is  seldom 
without  its  immediate  reward,  in  the  advancement  of  domestic 
union  and  harmony,  and  in  the  promotion  of  an  increased  feel- 
ing of  religion  in  yourself  and  in  your  household.  Duties 
such  as  these  indeed,  when  faithfully  performed,  will  not  and 
cannot  want  a blessing,  because  they  will  not  and  cannot  stand 
alone.  They  will,  under  the  divine  teaching  and  guidance, 
lead  you  carefully  to  review  the  whole  tenor  of  your  life  and 
conversation,  and  to  compare  it  with  the  dictates  of  that  book 
w^hich  you  esteem  of  sufficient  authority  to  present  before  your 
assembled  family.  When  you  read,  day  after  day,  in  the 
hearing  of  your  children  and  domestics,  that  many  of  those 
things  which  are  most  “ highly  esteemed  among  men  are  abomi- 
nation in  the  sight  of  God  that  “ all  things  are  naked  and 
open  before  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  that  “ banquet- 
ings,  revellings,  and  such  like,”  are  classed  in  the  word  of  God 
with  “murders,  drunkenness,  and  adultery,”  as  among  those 
works  of  the  flesh  of  which  “ they  that  do  such  things  shall 
not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God” — you  will,  perhaps,  by  God’s 


LECTURE  II. 


31 


blessing,  be  led  to  ask  yourself  respecting  many  of  the  pursuits 
and  pleasures  in  which  you  now  so  thoughtlessly  engage, 
“ Am  I not  contradicting,  by  my  life,  what  I am  daily  reading 
with  my  lips?  How  can  I act  as  a priest  of  the  living  God  in 
my  family,  and  then  go  forth  in  the  morning  to  the  daily  duties 
of  life,  in  an  unchristian,  unholy,  or  uncharitable  spirit  ? Or 
how  can  I return  at  night  from  the  society  of  the  thoughtless, 
the  worldly  or  the  profane,  or  from  those  places  in  which  the 
name  of  God  is  habitually  blasphemed,  by  the  sinful  and  ridicu- 
lous association,  in  which  we  find  it,  and  with  senses  impaired 
by  fatigue,  or  excited  by  conviviality,  or  distracted  by  vain  and 
thoughtless  company,  hope  to  draw  near  with  acceptable  feel- 
ings to  the  domestic  altar,  or  take  the  holy  word  of  a perfectly 
pure  and  heart-searching  God  within  my  lips  ?” 

These  are  considerations  so  solemn,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
undeniably  scriptural  and  true,  that  we  cannot  but  feel  assured 
that  if  they  were  allowed  their  due  weight,  and  followed  out  to 
their  just  and  reasonable  conclusions,  they  would,  under  the 
divine  blessing,  tend  most  materially  to  raise  the  tone  of  Chris- 
tian feeling  and  conduct  throughout  our  congregations.  The 
clear  and  positive  and  scriptural  duty  of  family  prayer  would 
be  no  longer  neglected;  your  servants  would  again  become 
what  they  now  have,  in  too  many  cases, ' ceased  to  be — an 
integral  portion  of  your  families,  regarded  by  their  masters,  and 
regarding  them  with  feelings  of  afTectionate  fidelity  in  return. 
Your  children  would  see  that  you  practised  what  you  heard, 
and  really  thought  God  worthy  to  be  served  at  some  little 
sacrifice  of  ease  and  self-indulgence  ; and  you  yourselves  would 
possess  the  inward  satisfaction,  that  if  a demoralizing,  revolu-. 
tionary,  infidel  principle  be  indeed  spreading  through  all  the 
ranks  and  orders  of  men,  you  had,  at  least,  in  your  own  little 
sphere,  not  hesitated  to  stand  in  the  gap,  and  to  stem  the  tide 
which  is  breaking  up  the  foundations  of  society,  and  which, 
although  yet  at  a distance,  may  shortly  be  upon  our  own  shores. 
The  blessed  consequence  would  be  that  the  promise  of  God 
would  be  fulfilled  to  us,  “ When  the  enemy  shall  come  in  like 


^2 


ABRAHAM. 


a flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a standard  against 
him.” 

Family  worship,  however,  great  and  important  as  it  is,  is 
not  the  only  public  duty  towards  God,  to  which  I would 
endeavour  to  incite  you  by  the  example  of  him  whose  history 
we  are  considering ; for  it  by  no  means  stands  alone  among 
the  number  of  obvious  and  neglected  services.  Bear  with  me 
then  a few  moments  longer  while  I endeavour  to  impress 
another  duty  upon  your  memories  and  your  hearts. 

You  have  assembled  this  day  in  God’s  house  of  prayer  and 
praise,  and  you  are  invited  to  draw  still  nearer  to  Him  at  that 
altar  which  commemorates  the  dying  love  of  the  Redeemer, 
and  presents  to  us  his  body  broken  and  his  blood  poured  forth 
for  man.  Here  then  is  another  command,  which,  as  Christians, 
you  cannot  doubt,  and  yet  of  which  alas, ! so  many  are  neglect- 
ful. Why,  let  me  ask,  are  any  of  a Christian  congregation, 
except  those  whose  professional  duties  oblige  them,  absent 
when  we  assemble  round  the  altar  of  Christ  ? Do  we  not  all 
acknowledge,  and  ought  we  not  all  to  love  the  same  Saviour  ! 
Ought  we  not  all  to  be  looking  to  the  same  blood  to  cleanse,  the 
same  righteousness  to  clothe,  and  the  same  Spirit  to  sanctify 
us  ? Should  we  not  all  equally  tremble  at  the  thought  of  being 
excluded  from  the  same  table  hereafter?  Why  do  we  then 
make  a separation  here  ? 

Young  Men:  is  it  because  you  possess  some  feelings  of  a 
false  and  unholy  shame  to  be  so  engaged  ? We  honour  the 
scruples  of  a tender  conscience,  however  mistaken  ; but  we  are 
afraid  that  too  many  have  no  better  and  no  wiser  reason  than 
this  false  shame,  for  absenting  themselves  from  a duty  equally 
binding  upon  all.  When  the  “ Canaanite  was  in  the  land” 
then,  you  would  not  have  stood  with  Abram  at  his  altar : you 
will  not  be  found  ranged  on  the  Lord’s  side  in  the  day  of 
battle  ; neither  then  can  you  hope  to  be  among  his  people  when 
they  rejoice  in  the  day  of  his  great  and  final  victory,  “ as  men 
rejoice  when  they  divide  the  spoil.”  Or  must  we  attribute 
your  absence  to  another  motive  ? Is  it  because  the  licentious- 


LECTURE  II. 


33 


ness  of  your  habits  in  private  tells  you  too  plainly  and  too 
truly,  that  while  you  thus  live,  the  altar  of  the  Lord  is  no  place 
for  you  ? O,  if  it  be  so,  pray  earnestly,  faithfully  pray,  that 
God  may  grant  you  a clean  heart,  and  renew  a right  spirit 
within  yon. 

Young  Women:  why  do  you  absent  yourselves  from  the 
table  of  the  Lord  ? Is  it  because  you  have  suffered  the  trifles, 
the  worthless  trifles  of  the  world,  vanity,  pleasure,  dress,  so  to 
occupy  your  thoughts,  and  hearts,  that  you  have  no  real  feelings 
for  these  high  and  heavenly  ordinances,  no  heartfelt  love  for 
him  who  appointed  them  ? If  it  be,  may  He  whom  you  have 
forgotten,  “ open  your  hearts,”  by  the  gentle  influences  of  his 
grace,  as  he  did  the  heart  of  Lydia  of  old,  to  “ attend  to  the 
things”  “ belonging  to  your  peace,  before  they  are  hid  from 
your  eyes.” 

Men  of  business  and  occupation  : why  do  you  absent 
yourselves  from  the  table  of  the  Lord  ? Is  it  because  your 
whole  time  and  thoughts  are  so  engrossed  by  the  perishing 
things  in  which  you  are  engaged,  that  you  have  never  yet  even 
so  far  reflected  upon  the  purposes  for  which  you  were  sent  into 
the  world,  as  to  feel  that  you  are  sinners,  and  to  fly  to  the 
Saviour  for  relief?  May  it  please  God  to  write  these  solemn 
words  upon  your  consciences — “ What  shall  it  profit  a man  if 
he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul ; or  what  shall 
a man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?” 

Persons  advanced  in  life  : why  are  you  absent ! Is  it 
because  you  have  so  long  neglected  this  ordinance,  or  the 
Saviour  who  instituted  it,  that  you  cannot  rouse  yourselves  from 
your  lethargy,  though  the  opening  grave  be  yawning  at  your 
feet  ? May  you  be  brought  to  know  that  the  “ hoary  head  is 
a crown  of  glory”  only  “ when  it  is  found  in  the  way  of  right- 
eousness !” 

My  beloved  brethren,  I do  not,  God  knows,  say  these  things 
in  bitterness  of  spirit,  but  with  a single  heartfelt  desire  for  you 
and  for  your  salvation.  I would,  if  your  time  would  permit, 
address  you  thus  separately  and  individually,  and  would  ask 


34 


ABRAHAM. 


you  all  and  each,  why  you  thus  trifle  with  a positive  command 
of  your  dying  Lord,  the  obligation  of  which  I am  certain  not 
one  among  you  would  venture  to  dispute. 

But  it  is  enough.  I will  not  urge  you  to  that  as  a mere 
command,  which  you  cannot  perform  acceptably  and  profitably 
unless  you  regard  it  as  one  of  your  highest  privileges  and 
choicest  blessings.  Once  obtain,  by  the  prayerful  application 
of  God'S  good  Spirit,  a real  abhorrence  of  sin,  a sincere  love 
for  the  Saviour,  a disregard  for  the  opinions,  and  a disrelish  for 
the  sinful  pleasures  of  the' world,  and  there  will  be  no  need  to 
urge,  to  expostulate,  or  to  entreat.  Like  Abram  you  will  never 
pitch  your  tent  without  erecting  your  altar,  and  offering  up 
your  sacrifices  of  praise  and  prayer  in  the  midst  of  your 
assembled  households ; you  will  never  hear  the  invitations  to 
the  table  of  the  Lord,  without  rejoicing  in  the  opportunity  it 
affords  you  of  drawing  still  nearer  to  the  God  of  all  your  mer- 
cies. You  will  look  forward  to  the  day  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
liouse  of  the  Lord,  and  the  supper  of  the  Lord,  as  the  bright 
spots  in  your  earthly  pilgrimage,  the  green  and  tranquil 
resting  places  in  your  weary  journey,  where  you  may  “ with 
ioy  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation  and  to  you,  com- 
munion with  your  Redeemer,  whether  in  private  or  in  public, 
in  Ins  word  or  at  his  table,  will  be  the. looked  for,  longed  for, 
anticipations  of  an  intercourse  which  shall  never  fatigue — of  a 
communion  which  shall  never  end. 


LECTURE  III. 


35 


LECTURE  III. 

Genesis  xiir.  2. 

And  Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold.” 

The  patriarch,  whose  history  we  are  pursuing,  had  been 
but  a short  time  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  that  country  which  is 
described  as  above  all  other  countries  in  richness  and  fertility, 
when  the  providence  of  God  so  ordered  it,  that  there  was  “a 
famine,”  “ a grievous  famine  in  the  land.”  This  was  a new 
trial  to  the  faith  of  Abram,  and  to  his  dependence  upon  his  God. 
He  had  advanced  to  the  very  heart  of  the  territory,  which  had 
been  esteemed  worthy  of  two  such  remarkable  promises,  and 
of  two  personal  appearances  of  the  great  Jehovah  ; and  now 
that  Abram  had  forsaken  all  for  it,  what  had  he  obtained  ? The 
grant  of  a country  which  could  not  maintain  its  own  inhabitants. 
And  is  this  the  manner  in  which  the  Almighty  keeps  his 
promise  to  the  ear,  but  breaks  it  to  the  apprehension?  Yes, 
my  brethren,  so  the  natural  mind  will  argue ; so  the  hesitating 
believer  will  fear ; but  as  his  subsequent  conduct  proves,  so 
did  not  Abram  either  argue  or  fear.  To  remain  in  Canaan  was 
impossible ; the  natural  determination,  therefore,  would  have 
been  to  have  returned  to  his  own  land,  where  he  might  feel 
assured  of  meeting  'with  the  abundance  from  which  he  had 
been  called.  Was  this  then  the  manner  in  which  Abram  acted  ? 
No,  he  followed  the  dictates  of  divine  grace,  and  rejected  the 
cowardly  suggestions  of  carnal  nature.  He  went  boldly  for- 
ward, turning  his  back  still  upon  the  bounties  of  the  land  of 
his  nativity,  and  passing  directly  through  the  barrenness  of 
Canaan  into  Egypt,  where  there  was  a sufficiency  for  himself 
and  his  numerous  retinue. 

My  brethren,  do  I speak  to  any  among  you  who  have  been 
led  by  the  sovereign  grace  of  God,  to  choose  with  Mary  that 
good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  you  ; and  who 


36 


ABRAHAM. 


have  already  found  that  the  Christian  profession  is  something 
more  than  a name  ; that  if  the  cross  of  a crucified  Redeemer 
be  indeed  faithfully  taken  up,  it  will  involve  you  in  trials  and 
difficulties  of  no  ordinary  nature  ? Have  you  experienced  this, 
and  do  you  begin  to  fear  that  the  promised  land  upon  which 
you  have  entered,  is  not  that  fertile  flowery  mead  which  your 
imagination  had  portrayed  ? That  you  have  entered  upon  a 
course  requiring  daily  and  almost  hourly  self-denials : the  re- 
straints of  the  natural  will,  the  subjection  of  the  natural  temper, 
the  coercion  of  the  natural  inclinations?  That  where  you 
expected  to  be  “ satisfied  with  good  things,”  there  are  seasons, 
—but,  blessed  be  God,  they  are  neither  long  nor  numerous, 
although  to  the  truest  believer  not  wffiolly  unknown, — when 
even  the  food  of  the  good  land,  the  best  of  all  lands,  appears  to 
fail  you  ; and  when,  though  tJiere  be  “ bread  enough  and  to 
spare”  in  your  Father’s  house,  you  fear  lest  you  should  perish 
from  hunger  ? These  are  intended  to  be  to  you,  what  the 
famine  of  (Canaan  was  to  Abram,  trials  of  your  faith,  tests  of 
your  consistency,  and  perseverance,  and  dependence  upon 
God.  At  such  seasons  do  the  natural  feelings  of  our  fallen 
nature  ever  tempt  you  to  return?  Do  they  suggest  to  you, 
this  is,  after  all,  a barren  course  upon  which  I have  ventured  ; 
its  joys  are  few,  its  trials  numerous,  its  restrictions  grievous  ; 
would  that  1 had  been  content  to  remain  among  the  people  of 
the  world,  where  there  was  a far  greater  abundance  of  enjoy- 
ment, infinitely  more  of  pleasure,  and  less  of  privation  and 
toil  ? In  moments  such  as  these,  my  brethren,  and  there  are 
few  to  whom  such  moments  come  not,  believe  that  the  sugges- 
tion is  the  voice  of  your  soul’s  worst  enemy,  of  him  who 
never  counsels  but  to  ruin  and  to  destroy  ; close  your  ear  to  his 
delusions,  and  open  your  heart  to  your  Redeemer : tell  Him 
your  difficulties  and  your  troubles,  and  in  his  strength,  “ for- 
getting those  things  which  are  behind,  press  forward  to  those 
which  are  before the  dark  and  lowering  season  will  soon  be 
over,  the  sky  will  clear,  and  the  bow  of  promise  will  again  be 
seen  in  the  cloud. 


LECTURE  III. 


37 


To  encourage  you  to  perseverance,  under  the  most  dis- 
couraging aspects,  remember  that  one  of  the  highest  testimonies 
borne  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  faith  of  the  patriarchs,  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  grounded  upon  their  conduct  in  seasons 
such  as  this.  “ If  they  had  been  mindful,”  says  the  apostle  to 
the  Hebrews,  “ of  that  country  from  whence  they  came  out, 
they  might  have  had  opportunity  to  have  returned that 
which  we  are  considering  was  precisely  one  of  those  opportu- 
nities. “ But  now  they  desire  a better  country,  that  is  a 
heavenly,  wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God  ; 
for  he  hath  prepared  for  them  a city.”  When  therefore,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  “ the  fig-tree  does  not  blossom,  and  tliere  is  no 
fruit  in  the  vine when  you  have,  tike  the  patriarchs  of  old, 
not  only  opportunity,  but  strong  temptation  to  return  ; when 
the  pleasures  of  life  assume  their  most  fascinating  garb,  or  the 
business  and  occupation  of  life  their  most  engrossing  aspect, 
and  endeavour  to  win  back  the  vantage  ground  in  your  mind’s 
affections,  from  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  driven  them:  like 
Abram,  resolve  to  forget  the  country  whence  you  came  out,  and 
to  press  forward  only  with  greater  ardour,  and  more  enduring 
perseverance,  to  that  better  country,  even  the  heavenly,  which 
is  promised  you.  Witli  the  eye  of  faith  fixed  on  the  cross  of 
your  Kedeemer,  look  camly  and  cheerfully  forward ; “ with 
Him  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning.”  He  is 
gone  to  prepare  a place  for  you,  where  the  joys  will  be  infinitely 
superior  to  all  the  petty  gratifications  which  are  now  so  strongly 
contesting  with  Him  the  power  to  influence  your  heart ; and 
most  assuredly  He  will  not  desert  you  by  the  way  : “ in  tlie 
end  you  shall  reap,  if  you  faint  not.” 

It  was  during  the  period  of  Abram’s  short  but  necessary 
sojourn  in  Egypt,  that  we  find  one  of  the  few  instances  of  the 
sinful  fear  of  man,  and  faithlessness  towards  God,  which 
marred  the  fair  outline  of  his  otherwise  perfect  character.  The 
inspired  historian,  with  that  fidelity  which  always  marks  his 
pen,  and  which  forms  one  of  the  great  beauties  of  Scripture 
biography,  invariably  portrays  the  failing  as  accurately  as  the 

4 


38 


ABRAHAM. 


virtue,  neither  extenuating  the  one,  nor  emblazoning  the  other. 
He  recounts  the  painful  fact  that  Abraham,  tempted  by  the 
danger  to  which  he  thought  the  beauty  of  his  wife  might 
expose  him  while  sojourning  among  the  sensual  Egyptians, 
desires  her  to  call  herself  his  sister.  An  evasion,  which,  like 
most  other  deviations  from  the  line  of  duty  and  of  truth,  only 
hastened  the  calamity  which  it  was  intended  to  prevent. 

Some  commentators'^  have  taken  great  pains  to  prove  that 
this  was  so  common  a mode  of  expression  in  those  early  times, 
and  in  those  eastern  countries,  that  there  is  little  weight  in  the 
charge  of  equivocation  thus  brought  against  Abram.  It  appears, 
however,  far  more  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  truth,  in 
cases  such  as  these,  like  the  subtilty  of  Jacob,  and  the  denial 
of  Peter,  to  acknowledge  at  once  that  they  were  sins, — sins 
unjustifiable  by  any  human  reasoning,  but  yet  susceptible  of 
pardon  through  the  blood  of  the  atonement,  and  as  the  event 
lias  proved,  pardoned  by  the  infinite  mercy  o'f  God.  He  it  is 
who  alone  hears  the  secret  sigh,  and  watches  the  silent  tear, 
and  accepts  the  heartfelt  contrition  of  which  all  human  biogra- 
phers must  be  for  ever  ignorant,  and  yet  which  form  a large 
and  blessed  portion  of  the  communion  between  a deeply  penitent 
soul  and  its  pardoning  God.  And  therefore  he  it  is  who,  while 
the  world  may  remember  with  unkindly  triumph  the  failings 
even  of  the  most  truly  penitent  believers,  has  himself  “ for  his 
own  name’s  sake,  passed  by  their  transgressions,  and  will  not 
remember  their  sins.”  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  repentance 
should  ill  all  cases  be  recorded  even  by  the  pen  of  inspiration ; 
hut  it  is  necessary,  in  vindication  of  the  truth  of  God,  that  the 
sins  even  of  the  holiest  should  not  be  suppressed,  since  they 
tend  the  more  fully  to  establish,  by  the  conduct  even  of  the  best 
of  men,  the  truth  of  that  Scripture  declaration,  which  affirms 
that  “ all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God  ; 
that  “there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one,”  not  the  father 
of  the  faithful  himself ; that  we  have  but  one  example,  which 
we  cannot  follow  too  closely  or  copy  too  minutely,  even  the 
* See  Calmct’s  Dictionary,  Art.  Abram. 


LECTURE  III. 


39 


Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  he  alone  was  “ holy,  harmless,  unde- 
filed,  separate  from  sinners.” 

The  famine  in  Canaan  having  ended,  the  patriarch  returned 
from  Egypt,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  he  had  taken  up  his  tempo- 
rary sojourn,  and  “ went  up,  he  and  his  wife  and  all  that  he 
had, and  Lot  with  him,  into  the  south.”  “Abram,”  continues 
the  inspired  historian,  “ was  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and 
in  gold  ; and  he  returned  to  Bethel,  unto  the  place  of  the  altar 
which  he  made  there  at  the  first,  and  there  Abraham  called  on 
the  name  of  the  Lord.” 

“ How  hardly,”  said  our  blessed  Saviour — “ How  hardly 
shall  a rich  man  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;”  yet  here 
was  one  who  was  “ very  rich,”  and  yet  esteemed  the  love  of 
God  and  the  service  of  God,  his  highest  honour  and  his  greatest 
wealth. 

My  brethren,  you  whom  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  to  the 
higher  and  more  influential  stations  in  society,  I would  earnestly 
desire  you  to  remember,  that  in  reviewing  the  life  of  Abraham, 
we  are  reviewing  the  life  not  only  of  a very  good  man,  but  of  a 
“very  rich”  and  powerful  man;  one  who,  as  the  prophet  ex- 
presses it,  was  laden  with  as  much  thick  c/ay,”*  and  beset 
by  as  many  temptations,  as  (considering  the  different  circum- 
stances of  society)  the  wealthiest  among  yourselves.  Yet  this 
rich  man,  in  the  midst  of  his  abundance,  still  thought  the  ser- 
vice of  God  his  chief  good,  and  the  hope  of  a better  country 
his  richest  inheritance.  Permit  me,  then,  to  apply  the  example 
of  the  patriarch  more  especially  to  yourselves  ; it  is  a valuable 
opportunity,  and  must  not  be  neglected : we  do  not  often  read 
of  the  wealthy  ones  of  the  world  among  the  people  of  God,  for 
we  are  expressly  told,  that  “ not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh, 
not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called.”  Let  me,  then, 
inquire  of  you  who  are  placed  in  the  middling  and  higher  classes 
of  society,  whether,  although  rich  in  silver  and  gold,  you  are 
content,  with  Abram  and  with  Moses,  to  “ esteem  the  reproach 
of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt ;”  whether 
* See  Hab.  ii.  6. 


40 


ABRAHAM. 


you  can  truly  affirm  with  the  apostle,  that  you  are  willing  to 
reckon  “ all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,”  and  to  “count  them  but  dung  that 
you  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  him  ?”  Or,  on  the  con- 
trary, when  riches  increase,  do  you  set  your  heart  upon  them  ? 
and  are  you  fostering  that  most  unscriptural  and  yet  too  common 
misapprehension,  that  the  rich  and  the  poor  cannot  be  tried  by 
precisely  the  same  laws,  and  subjected  to  precisely  the  same 
penalties,  by  Him  who  shall  come  to  be  our  judge  ? Few, 
perhaps,  will  freely  confess  that  they  are  thinking  thus  ; and 
yet  how  often  in  society  do  we  find  a tacit  acknowledgment  of 
so  unholy  a proposition  ? that  the  same  strict  observance  of 
God’s  laws  and  his  sabbaths,  the  same  self-denying  application 
of  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  can  hardly  be  expected  from 
persons  of  rank  and  fortune,  as  from  persons  in  poverty  and 
obscurity  ; that  the  intrigues  and  the  duels  of  the  wealthy  are 
sins  of  a very  different  colouring  from  the  adulteries  and  murders 
of  the  vulgar ; that  the  former  have  infinitely  more  temptations 
than  the  latter,  and  that,  therefore,  great  allowances  should  no 
doubt  be  made  for  them. 

If  by  this  it  be  only  meant  that  we,  their  fellow-mortals  and 
fellow-sinners,  should  make  the  greatest  allowances  in  passing 
an  opinion  upon  their  character  and  conduct,  remembering  that 
their  difficulties  and  impediments  are  greater  than  our  own,  the 
observation  is  most  true,  and  few  would  desire  to  controvert 
it:  we  cannot  be  too  cautious,  too  careful,  too  charitable  in 
judging  others,  more  especially  when  they  are  placed  in  high 
and  responsible  situations,  that  we  may  counteract  the  common 
tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  lower  all  that  is  great,  and  to 
detract  from  all  that  is  above  us,  and  that  we  may  obey  the 
apostolical  injunction  “not  to  speak  evil  of  dignities.”  But  if 
it  be  intended,  as  we  fear  it  too  often  is,  to  encourage  the  belief 
that  the  Unerring  Judge  will  make  these  allowances,  that 
God  himself  will  admit  of  any  such  distinction  ; that  the  man 
who  has  been  clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared 
sumptuously  every  day,  will  be  at  the  last  amenable  to  one 


LECTURE  III. 


41 


code,  and  the  beggar  who  has  lain  at  his  gate  will  be  tried  by 
another ; we  must  beseech  you  to  discard  from  you  for  ever 
so  dangerous,  so  unscriptural  a delusion.  There  is  not  the 
smallest  hint  of  such  a doctrine  throughout  the  whole  range  of 
the  word  of  God.  The  danger  and  the  difficulties,  the  burden 
and  the  temptations  of  wealth,  are  indeed,  largely  and  freely 
dwelt  upon  ; but  where  shall  we  find  its  immunities  ? In  the 
vain  phraseology  of  human  society,  in  the  opinion  of  the  world, 
\vho  possess,  or  are  striving  to  possess  it,  but  not  in  the  word 
of  God  ! These  are  all  equally  dealt  with  now,  as  all  shall 
be  hereafter  ; “ God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  He  does  not 
enlarge  the  strait  gate,  or  widen  the  narrow  way  to  admit  tl:e 
wealthiest  or  the  proudest  of  the  sons  of  earth  : the  emperor 
and  the  beggar  must  resort  to  the  same  “ fountain  opened  for 
sill  and  for  uncleanness,”  and  shed  the  same  bitter  tears  of 
penitence,  and  live  the  same  life  of  holy  self-denial,  or  tliey 
will  not  meet  at  last  in  the  same  gracious  presence,  or  rejoice 
together  throughout  the  same  blissful  eternity.  Let  me  then 
entreat  you,  to  whom  I am  now  more  especially  addressing 
myself,  not  to  shelter  yourselves  behind  such  transparent 
sophistries,  as  the  allowances  which  tlie  opinion  of  the  world 
chooses  to  make  for  the  sins  of  the  wealthy  and  the  great. 
The  eye  of  God,  and  the  voice  of  God,  will  reach  you  behind 
so  thin  a screen,  as  they  did  our  first  parents  when  hidden 
among  the  trees  of  the  garden  ; and  such  excuses  will  only  in- 
crease the  danger  and  condemnation  of  those  who  trust  in  them. 

It  is  at  the  present  time,  more  than  it  has  ever  been  in  our 
memories,  essential  that  you,  my  brethren  of  the  higher  classes, 
should  hear  the  truth  plainly  and  unequivocally  stated ; and  they 
only  are  your  true  friends  who  will  unhesitatingly  reveal  it  to 
you.  While  I endeavour,  however  imperfectly,  to  do  so,  be- 
lieve me  that  I do  it  with  feelings  of  the  most  sincere  reluctance, 
lest  my  motives  should  be  misapprehended.  I should  regret 
the  results  to  which  I point,  as  xleeply  and  as  bitterly  as  your- 
selves ; but  I believe  that  these  results  are  more  likely,  under 

4* 


42 


ABRAHAM. 


Providence,  to  be  prevented  by  a bold  and  honest  warning, 
than  by  a timid  and  time-serving  suppression  of  them. 

It  has  been  said,  that  if  truth  were  driven  from  the  dwellings 
of  men,  it  ought  to  be  found  in  the  hearts  of  kings.  May  it 
not  be  said  with  equal  propriety,  that  if  a plain  and  fearless 
mode  of  speaking  be  banished  from  every  other  place,  it  ought 
to  take  refuge  in  the  pulpit  ? If  we,  the  ministers  of  God,  be 
content  to  speak  unto  you  smooth  things,  to  prophesy  deceit, 
where  shall  you  seek  a monitor  who  will  venture  to  deal 
plainly  with  you  ? 

The  times  in  which  our  lot  has  been  cast  are  not  common 
times  ; they  are  times  when  knowledge  and  civilization  have 
travelled  down  to  the  extremest  limits  of  human  society  ; when 
the  lower  classes,  in  intelligence  and  even  in  education,  are 
following  closely  upon  the  footsteps  of  their  superiors,  and,  as 
one  of  the  evils  necessarily  attendant  upon  this  new  order  of 
things,  erroneously  imagine  themselves  qualified  to  judge  of 
the  character  and  conduct  of  those  above  them.  The  natural 
consequence  of  this  is,  that  the  day  when  imposing  titles  and 
high-sounding  names  could  awe  the  multitude  into  obedience, 
and  frown  the  observers  into  respect,  is  paasing  rapidly  away 
for  ever.  Old  customs  and  institutions  cease  to  be  venerated 
because  they  are  old,  and  rank  ceases  to  be  respected  because  it 
is  powerful.  The  sentiments  of  men  are  undergoing  a visible 
and  most  fearful  change  ; every  thing  is  now  brought  to  the  bar 
of  public  opinion — a tribunal  which  while  it  boasts  of  emanci- 
pating itself  from  the  fetters  of  ancient  prejudice,  has  neither 
sought  nor  desired  to  seek  the  more  hallowed  influences  of  re- 
straining grace- — while  they  who  sit  in  judgment  there,  are 
no  longer  the  lettered  or  the  titled  few  who  for  centuries  had 
esteemed  it  their  own  prescriptive  privilege,  but  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  by  whom  the  lower  departments  of  life 
are  crowded. 

Is  it  not  then  evident,  (for  my  desire  is  not  to  dwell  upon 
the  general  question,  but  its  personal  application,)  that  you  also, 
if  you  are  anxious  to  retain  your  stations  in  the  respect  and 


LECTURE  III. 


43 


sympathies  of  society,  must  advance  with  the  times?  You 
must  produce,  in  addition  to  those  claims  which  you  now 
possess,  and  which  to  every  well-thinking  mind  will  always 
be  respectable,  a far  more  availing  title  to  the  love  and  venera- 
tion of  your  inferiors.  You  must  take  your  stand  upon  the 
strong  ground  of  our  common  Christianity.  You  must  show, 
by  your  respect  for  the  name,  and  the  ordinances,  and  the 
word,  and  the  Sabbath  of  our  God,  that  you  esteem  the  title  of 
a child  of  God  your  highest  rank,  a holy  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God  your  most  imperative  duty,  and  the  favour  of  God  your 
greatest  privilege.  You  must  evidence,  by  your  regard  for 
the  best  interests  of  your  poorer  brethren,  for  their  spiritual  as 
well  as  temporal  improvement,  by  your  sympathy  in  their 
sorrows,  by  your  ready  and  liberal  kindness  to  their  necessities, 
that  you  are  not  ashamed  to  acknowledge  the  near  and  intimate 
relationship  which  subsists  between  you  ; that  you  indeed  love 
the  same  Saviour,  and  for  his  sake  are  anxious  to  do  them  good. 

Such  a change,  blessed  be  God,  is  unquestionably  making 
its  way  through  the  middling  and  higher  ranks  of  society.  God 
grant  that  it  may  be  sufficiently  rapid  in  its  progress,  and  ex- 
tensive in  its  operation,  to  avert,  under  Divine  Providence, 
those  events  which  it  requires  no  prophetic  vision  to  discern 
upon  the  wings  of  the  coming  times.  Over  this  we  have  no 
control ; but  it  is  our  duty,  as  ministers,  to  express  our  solemn 
convictions  upon  so  important  a topic,  and  it  is  no  less  your 
duty  than  your  interest,  as  hearers,  to  pray  to  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  carry  the  application  of  them  to  your  own  hearts  ; that 
you  may  each  for  yourselves  learn  experimentally  the  comfort 
of  this  great  Bible  truth — that,  whether  in  the  darkest. hour  of 
public  danger,  when  the  judgments  of  God  are  abroad  in  the 
earth,  or  in  the  most  trying  moments  of  personal  or  family 
affliction,  there  is  but  one  unfailing  source  of  strength  and  con- 
solation, but  one  refuge  from  the  storm,  one  covert  from  tiie 
blast,  one  shelter  from  the  tempest : in  the  words  of  the  wise 
man,  “ The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a strong  tower,  the  righteous 
runneth  into  it  and  are  safe.” 


44 


ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE  IV. 

Genesis  xrii.  8. 

And  Abram  said  unto  Lot,  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I pray  thee,  between 
me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen,  for  we  be 
brethren.” 

The  points  of  interest  which  we  have  hitherto  considered  in 
the  history  of  Abram,  have  been  those  chiefly  which  regarded 
his  belief  in,  his  dependence  upon,  and  his  obedience  to  his  God. 
The  incident  which  we  are  now  approaching  is  one  which  will 
present  the  patriarch  to  us  in  the  details  of  domestic  life,  in  the 
common  transactions  between  man  and  /man  ; where  we  shall 
have  the  opportunity  of  observing  whether  his  daily  conduct 
and  temper  were  in  unison  with  that  high  character  for  spiritual 
attainments  with  which  the  writers  of  inspiration  have  invested 
him.  Happy  would  it  be  for  the  Christian  world,  if  its  pro- 
fessors of  all  ranks  and  in  all  ages  could  bear  the  scrutiny  so 
safely,  and  come  forth  from  the  investigation  so  unimpeachably, 
as  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

Abram  had,  as  we  have  seen,  returned  from  Egypt  into 
Canaan  with  all  his  family,  and  accompanied  by  Lot,  his 
nephew.  Both  Abram  and  Lot  had  now  become  extremely 
rich  ; their  flocks  and  herds  covered  the  face  of  the  country, 
and  their  servants,  born  in  their  house  and  dwelling  in  their 
tents,  formed  of  themselves  no  inconsiderable  multitude. 

Such  wealth  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  exist  long  in  any 
family  without  producing  its  usual  results,  dissension  and 
division  between  those  who  fear  not  God,  and  trial  and  dis- 
union even  between  those  who  are  the  most  closely  allied  to 
him.  We  are  accordingly  informed,  “that  the  land  was  not 
able  to  bear  them  that  they  might  dwell  together ; for  their 
substance  was  great,  so  that  they  could  not  dwell  together. 
And  there  was  a strife  between  the  herdmen  of  Abram’s  cattle, 
and  the  herdmen  of  Lot’s  cattle.” 


LECTURE  IV. 


45 


It  does  not  appear  that  the  strife  had  reached  to  the  heads  of 
the  respective  families,  but  it  had  commenced  with  the  domes- 
tics : and  instances  have  not  been  wanting  in  latter  times,  when 
feuds  thus  begun  have  kindled,  not  only  individuals  and  families, 
but  even  clans  and  nations  into  war. 

It  was  then  that  the  practical  nature  of  Abram’s  religion 
began  to  be  developed.  That  we  may  place  it  in  the  strongest 
light,  let  us  for  a moment  consider  the  manner  in  which  a man 
of  the  world  would  have  acted  upon  such  an  emergency,  and 
then  mark  the  gratifying  and  instructive  contrast.  Would  he 
not  have  argued  thus  ? — There  can  be  no  question  that  if  the 
land  will  not  maintain  our  whole  company,  it  will  at  least  main- 
tain me,  and  all  that  belong  to  me ; let  therefore  my  nephew 
seek  for  himself,  what  I have  already  found,  and  what  has 
been  in  so  peculiar  a manner  promised  to  me.  I have  both  the 
right  to  claim,  and  the  power  to  maintain  that  right,  and  though 
I would  willingly  do  every  thing  that  is  equitable  and  kind,  it 
cannot  be  expected  that  the  elder  should  yield  to  the  younger, 
or  that  I should  undervalue  the  promises  or  gifts  of  God,  by 
being  so  unnecessarily  ready  to  transfer  them  to  another.  If 
strife  or  hostility  be  endangered,  the  peril  be  to  him  who 
awakens  it;  I have  wherewithal  to  defend  myself,  and  to 
punish  my  opponents. — Such  would  have  been  unquestionably 
the  opinion  of  nine-tenths  of  mankind,  and  so  prevalent  is  this 
selfish  mode  of  reasoning  and  acting  in  the  world  around  us, 
that  we  scarcely  feel  that  there  would  have  been  any  thing  for 
the  worldly  man  to  animadvert  upon,  had  this  been  the  lan- 
guage and  conduct  of  the  patriarch  himself.  Let  ns  then  hasten 
to  contrast  this  with  what  were  indeed  his  language  and  conduct 
upon  this  important  occasion ; “ Abram  said  unto  Lot,  Let 
there  be  no  strife,  I pray  thee,  between  me  and  thee,  and  be- 
tween my  herd  men  and  thy  herd  men,  for  we  be  brethren.” 
Of  how  widely  different  a spirit  from  those  to  whom  we  have 
alluded,  must  he  have  been  possessed,  who  could  thus  speak 
upon  a subject  of  considerable  aggravation : “ Let  there  be  no 
strife,  for  wt  be  brethren.'^'*  When  we  look  around  us  in  the 


46 


ABRAHAM. 


world,  who  would  believe  tliat  the  same  relationship,  and 
therefore  the  same  blessed  motive  for  peace,  still  exists  among 
its  inhabitants  ? When  we  see  the  quarrels  and  the  coldnesses, 
the  lawsuits  and  the  strifes,  between  those  who  are  not  only 
bound  by  the  common  tie  of  Christian  fraternity,  but  by  thi 
closest  and  most  indissoluble  bonds  of  affinity  and  blood,  are 
we  not  tempted  to  inquire,  can  these  men  indeed  be  “ breth- 
ren ?”  Can  they  be  all  trusting  to  the  same  hope  of  salvation, 
and  expecting,  or  even  desiring,  to  dwell  together  in  the  same 
heaven  ? It  is  impossible  : with  such  divisions  of  heart  and 
affections,  with  such  bitterness  of  feeling  and  expression,  the 
same  eternal  mansions  could  not  contain  them  : the  very  tran- 
quillity of  heaven  itself  would  be  broken  up  if  they  were 
admitted  there ; heaven  would  be  no  heaven,  if  it  were  a place 
where  so  many  differing  brethren,  of  so  many  differing  families, 
were  all  to  congregate  together  in  one  eternal  abode. 

But  the  kindness  of  Abram  did  not  exhaust  itself  in  a cour- 
teous speech,  or  evaporate  in  mere  expressions  : he  thus  pro- 
ceeds with  almost  unexampled  tenderness  and  humility  to 
address  his  younger  and  far  less  amiable  kinsman,  “ Is  not  the 
whole  land  before  thee  ? separate  thyself,  I pray  thee,  from  me  ; 
if  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I will  go  to  the  right ; or, 
if  thou  depart  to  the  right,  then  I will  go  to  the  left.”  What 
forbearance,  what  generosity,  what  true  nobility  of  mind  was 
here  ! Abram,  standing  on  the  confines  of  a country  far  exceed- 
ing in  fertility  that  through  which  they  were  passing,  does  not 
for  a moment  regard  the  difference,  or  claim,  as  he  might  have 
done,  from  the  expressed  promise  of  the  Almighty,  the  whole 
for  himself : he  does  not,  as  all  must  allow  he  would  have  been 
most  fully  justified  in  doing,  even  claim  for  himself  the  priority 
of  choice  ; he  waives  every  right,  and  gives  up  every  preten- 
sion, in  favour  of  one  far  younger,  and  less  deserving,  humbly 
contenting  himself  with  the  portion  which  Lot  should  leave 
him.  Well  did  our  Lord  declare,  “ Blessed  are  the  peace- 
makers, for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God.”  And 
yet,  alas ! how  little  of  this  spirit  is  there  upon  earth  ! 'J'o 


LECTURE  IV. 


47 


give  up  a single  point,  to  yield  upon  a single  question,  although 
you  know  yourself  to  be  in  the  wrong,  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
world,  rather  a mark  of  pusillanimity  and  weakness,  than  of 
common  honesty  and  candour ; while  even  among  sincere 
Christians  such  a concession  is  considered  as  no  slight  triumph 
of  principle : but  to  yield  when  you  are  confessedly  in  the 
right,  to  give  up  your  claim,  when  justice,  reason,  equity,  and 
the  power  to  maintain  it  are  all  upon  your  side,  this  is  so  rare 
as  to  be  rather  matter  of  tradition  that  such  things  have  been, 
than  among  the  every-day  occurrences  of  the  Christian’s  life 
that  such  things  are.  Yet  how  completely  was  this  the  prin- 
ciple upon  which  Abram  acted,  and  which  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham commends  ! 

My  brethren,  would  you  desire — and  who  is  there  that 
would  not  desire — to  emulate  so  lovely  a character  ? There  is 
only  one  method  in  which  it  can  be  achieved ; there  is  only 
one  principle  from  which  an  habitual  consistency  in  all  the 
amiable  qualifications  of  life  can  flow  : “ Let  that  mind  be  in 
you,  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus  “ Let  the  love  of  Christ 
constroin  youP  The  sweetest  natural  disposition  may  be 
soured  by  disappointments  or  impaired  by  nnkindness,  or  expire 
amid  the  pains  and  disquietudes  of  sickness,  or  the  peevishness 
and  fretfulness  of  age  ; but  the  forbearance,  the  affectionate  and 
feeling  regard  for  others,  the  ready  postponement  of  our  own 
interest  or  wishes  to  theirs,  which  flow  not  from  the  mere 
blessing  of  a naturally  even  temper,  or  the  comforts  of  a well- 
organized  body,  or  a well-balanced  mind,  but  from  a heart 
renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  from  a mind  deeply  imbued  with 
the  love  of  Christ,  from  an  habitual  imitation  of  his  blessed  and 
perfect  example,  will  never  fail  you. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  most  sincere  Christian  may 
not  be  betrayed  into  momentary  harshness,  or  hastiness  of 
expression,  that  you  will  never  utter  an  uncharitable  word, 
or  be  guilty  of  an  unkind  action;  but  we  do  mean  to  assert, 
that  these  will  be  exceptions,  the  few  and  rare  exceptions, 
while  with  the  living  principle  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  within, 


48 


ABRAHAM. 


and  the  beauteous  model  of  his  perfect  character  without,  you 
will  never  habitually  and  designedly  err  on  the  side  of  selfish 
ness,  unkindness,  or  uncharitableness. 

Strive  then,  my  Christian  brethren,  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  to 
take  away  the  reproach  which  has  been  unjustly  cast  upon  the 
Christian  name  and  profession  by  the  worldliness,  the  injustice, 
the  rapacity  or  the  cruelty  of  some  of  its  professing  followers. 
Who  can  tell  how  deeply,  even  in  his  own  person,  the  cause 
of  Christianity  may  have  suffered  from  the  existence  of  feel- 
ings such  as  these  ? Is  it  not  grievous  to  reflect,  that  at  the 
last  day  there  may  be  many  of  those  who  shall  be  cast  into 
outer  darkness,  to  whom  we  may  ourselves  have  given  cause 
to  make  this  most  true  but  unavailing  complaint : There  was 
a time  when  I was  seriously  disposed  to  have  inquired  into 
those  doctrines  which  the  religious  people  of  my  day  professed  ; 
but  when  I sought  their  more  intimate  acquaintance,  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  their  opinions,  and  examining  their  practice, 
I found  them  so  widely  at  variance,  so  much  of  love  in  their 
creed,  and  of  hatred  in  their  lives,  of  harshness  and  uncharita- 
bleness towards  others,  of  differences  and  divisions  among 
themselves,  that  I shrunk  from  a closer  connexion  with  them, 
and  remain  in  that  ignorance  and  disobedience  which  will  now 
receive  their  justly-merited  reward,  and  condemn  me  to  the 
blackness  of  darkness  for  ever. 

Earnestly  then  let  me  exhort  you,  each  within  the  circle  of 
his  own  little  influence,  to  present  to  the  eyes  of  the  world  the 
Christian  character  in  all  its  spiritual  harmony  and  beauty  : 
“Put  on  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy  aud  beloved,  bowels  of 
^ mercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffer- 
ing : forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  one  another,  if  any 
man  have  a quarrel  against  any  ; even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so 
also  do  ye  showing  forth  in  your  life  and  conversation  the 
“fruits  of  the  Spirit,  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance.”  Demonstrate  that 
you  are  indeed  the  children  of  Abram,  by  evincing  the  same 
peaceableness  and  self-denial,  the  same  kindness  and  urbanity 


LECTURE  IV. 


49 


in  the  every-day  transactions  of  common  life  ; “ doing  to  all 
men  as  you  would  tliey  should  do  unto  you  and  in  lowliness 
of  mind  esteeming  others  better  than  yourselves.  Carry  the 
spirit  of  your  divine  Master,  the  conformity  to  the  revealed 
will  and  character  of  your  God,  not  merely  into  his  temple  with 
you,  but  into  your  occupations  and  your  retirements  ; into  your 
counting-houses,  and  your  dwelling-houses  ; into  the  duties  of 
every  day,  and  the  domestic  intercourse  of  every  hour : these 
are  the  tests,  the  only  true  and  genuine  tests,  of  your  religious 
profession  ; for  be  assured  that  “ he  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  cannot  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen.” 
“ God  is  love  ; and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth  in  God, 
and  God  in  him.” 

No  sooner  had  Abram  made  to  his  nephew  the  kind  and 
liberal  proposition  upon  which  we  have  been  speaking,  than 
we  are  informed  that  Lot  immediately  accepted  the  offer  of 
priority  of  choice ; and  without  a single  feeling  either  of  that 
gratitude  which  might  have  led  him  to  return  the  offer  to  his 
uncle,  or  that  delicacy  which  might  have  taught  him  to  content 
himself  with  the  inferior  portion  of  the  territory  around  them, 
grasped  at  once  at  the  proffered  kindness,  and  “ chose  for  him- 
self aU  the  plain  of  Jordan,”  the  best  watered  and  most  fertile 
portion  of  the  land. 

With  the  history  of  Lot,  with  his  ingratitude,  his  selfishness, 
his  covetousness,  if  these  were  at  diis  time  features  in  the 
character  of  him,  who  was  afterwards  spoken  of  as  a sincere 
and  upright  man  of  God,  we  are  not  concerned  ; but  as  the 
nephew  of  Abram,  as  one  for  whom  we  shall  find  the  patriarch 
hereafter  most  mercifully  and  successfully  interesting  himself, 
it  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  remark,  that  this  was  the  first  false 
step  which  led  to  a life  of  the  most  trying  and  harassing  vicissi- 
tudes. Lot  now  separated  from  the  company  of  a man  of  God, 
from  the  benefit  of  his  ordinances  and  his  altars,  his  precepts 
and  his  example ; and  for  the  sake  of  earthly  abundance,  volun- 
tarily betook  himself  into  the  neighborhood,  and  finally  into 

5 


50 


ABRAHAM. 


tlie  closest  companionship  and  intimacy,  of  those  who  knew 
not  the  Lord. 

My  younger  brethren : you  whose  happiness  it  is,  in  what- 
ever station  of  life  you  are,  to  be  placed  at  present  within  the 
instructions  and  the  privileges  of  a religious  family,  think 
gratefully  of  this  blessing,  and  reflect  seriously  before  you  con- 
sent to  forego  or  separate  from  it.  Be  assured  that  the  very 
society  of  God’s  people  is  no  common  blessing,  and  their  ordi- 
nances and  altars  no  common  privilege. 

If  the  providence  of  God  have  placed  you  in  the  lower  ranks 
of  life,  and  I would  here  especially  address  myself  to  domestic 
servants,  be  very  careful  how  you  permit  any  prospect  of 
superior  temporal  advantages  to  induce  you  to  relinquish  the 
benefits  of  living  in  a family  conducted  upon  truly  Christian 
principles.  If  you  are  freely  permitted  to  attend  divine  worship, 
and,  as  far  as  your  necessary  occupations  will  admit,  to  hallow 
this  sacred  day ; if  you  have  the  comfort  and  the  benefit  of 
family  prayers,  and  if  these  Christian  advaatages  be  duly  ap- 
preciated and  improved  by  you,  you  may  be  convinced  that 
the  blessing  of  God  may  rest  upon  you  in  an  especial  manner, 
while  beneath  that  roof.  Be  not  therefore  in  haste,  for  any 
imaginary  advantages,  to  leave  it.  While  you  evince  your 
thankfulness  to  God  for  placing  you  there,  show  also,  by 
practising  all  good  fidelity,  by  the  strictest  honesty  and  most 
respectful  obedience,  your  gratitude  to  your  employers.  As 
John  the  Baptist  said  to  the  soldiers,  “ Be  content  with  your 
wages,”  and  “ meddle  not  with  them  who  are  given  to  changed 
You  may,  and  doubtless  will,  find  some  difficulties  and  priva- 
tions in  every  situation, — so  would  Lot,  had  he  continued  with 
Abram, — but  infinitely  less  distressing  and  more  endurable  than 
those  which  succeeded  his  separation.  Take  warning  then  by 
his  example,  and  let  it  be  no  trivial  advantage  in  the  future,  no 
slight  trial  and  inconvenience  in  the  present,  which  shall  tempt 
you  to  forsake  a family  in  which  you  are  treated  as  if  you 
])ossessed  an  immortal  soul,  and  were  preparing  for  an  eternal 
inheritance. 


LECTURK  IV. 


51 


It  must  have  bsen  a most  sincere  and  iieartfelt  grief  to  the 
aged  patriarch,  to  view  his  young  relation  thus  readily  with- 
drawing from  the  tents  of  his  uncle,  and  to  find  himself  deprived 
of  the  company  and  society  of  one  whom  he  had  brought  from 
a land  of  idolatry,  and  taught  to  acknowledge  and  worship  the 
great  Jehovah.  This,  then,  was  the  period  selected  by  the 
Almighty  to  renew  in  a peculiar  manner  his  promises  to  Abram. 
“ The  Lord  said  unto  Abram,  after  that  Lot  vms  separated 
from  him,  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place 
where  thou  art,  northward  and  southward  and  eastward  and 
westward  ; for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I 
give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  for  ever.” 

How  striking  an  instance  is  this  of  the  considerate  kindness 
and  tender  mercies  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  ! At 
the  moment  when  Abram  had  been  making  the  greatest  sacri- 
fices for  peace,  at  the  time  when  he  was  most  remarkably 
demonstrating  how  loosely  he  sat  by  the  richest  ear tlily  abun- 
dance, compared  with  the  desire  of  approving  himself  to  God, 
the  Almighty  visits  him  with  a fresh  manifestation  of  his  pre- 
sence, and  comforts  him  with  renewed  assurances  of  his  future 
inheritance.  And  does  not  the  experience  of  the  Christian 
still  evidence  to  the  same  compassionate  dealing  on  the  part  of 
his  Almighty  Father?  If  you,  my  Christian  brethren,  are 
ever  led  to  acts  of  painful  self-denial ; if,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
for  the  honour  of  God  or  the  glory  of  his  name,  you  ever 
willingly  forego  any  worldly  advantage,  or  deprive  yourself  of 
any  temporal  gratification,  how  sweetly  are  you  recompensed, 
how  amply  are  you  repaid,  even  at  tlie  present  hour,  by  the 
increased  enjoyment  of  closer  and  more  intimate  communion 
with  your  Redeemer,  and  by  a sense  of  his  approving  presence 
and  his  all-seeing  eye  ! How  completely  does  He  thus  ac- 
complish his  own  most  gracious  declaration,  “ There  is  no  man 
that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother, 
or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake  or  the  gospel’s,  but 
he  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold  now  in  this  present  time,  and 
in  the  world  to  come  eternal  life.” 


52 


ABRAHAM. 


Thus  also,  when  those  whom  you  have  loved  and  cherished 
here,  in  whose  society  you  have  delighted,  with  whom  you 
have  enjoyed  the  comforts  of  this  world,  or  the  far  more  bliss- 
ful anticipations  of  that  which  is  to  come,  when  they  are  sepa- 
rated from  you  by  unavoidable  distance,  or  removed  from  you 
by  the  hand  of  death,  how  cheering  to  the  eye  of  faith  is  the 
bright,  unfading  prospect  of  the  future  inheritance  ! At  such 
times,  how  powerfully  and  how  soothingly  does  the  Spirit  of 
God  speak  to  the  mind  of  the  believer ! and,  when  the  soul  is 
faint  and  the  heart  is  heavy,  say  to  you  as  he  did  of  old  to 
Abram,  “ Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place 
where  thou  art cease  to  dwell  upon  your  present  disquietudes 
and  losses  ; cease  to  “ sorrow  as  men  without  hope  “look 
from  the  place”  where  sin  has  tainted  every  comfort,  and 
sorrow  has  darkened  every  prospect,  and  let  the  eye  of  faith 
cast  its  bright  glance  of  hope  and  joy  to  the  inheritance  which 
is  prepared  for  you.  “For  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to 
thee  will  I give  it;”  as  surely  is  it  for  thee  if  thou  art  an  obe- 
dient believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  if  purchased  for  thee  alone  ; 
as  certainly  shall  it  be  kept  for  thee,  and  thou  for  it,  as  ii  thme 
absence  alone  would  mar  the  happiness  of  its  ten  thousand 
times  ten  thousand  happy  inmates. 

In  the  darkest  hour,  therefore,  of  this  world’s  most  trying 
vicissitudes,  dwell  with  humble  hope  upon  the  prospects  of 
this  blessed,  this  glorious  inheritance  ; it  is  indeed  an  enlivening 
and  an  elevating  theme,  one  which,  more  than  any  other,  tends 
to  comfort  the  heart  when  broken,  and  to  cheer  the  spirit  when 
sorrowful.  Consider  those  who  are  already  there,  who  have 
all  passed  through  the  same  trials,  been  subject  to  the  same  in- 
firmities, and  bowed  beneath  the  same  sorrows  as  yourself. 
Tlie  thoughts  of  that  glorious  inheritance,  of  “ the  recompense 
of  the  reward ;”  of  Him,  whom  having  not  seen,  they  loved, 
and  with  whom  they  longed  to  be  for  ever  dwelling ; of  that 
blissful  country  where  Jesus  reigns,  and  where  sin  and  sorrow, 
and  death  and  trial,  are  alike  unknown — were  the  thoughts 
which  gladdened  their  hearts  and  dried  their  tears  while  engaged 


LECTURE  IV. 


53 


in  the  same  pilgrimage  as  yourselves.  Let  them  also  be  the 
thoughts  to  cheer  your  labours  and  silence  your  regrets.  Sur- 
vey the  “ land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the  breadth  of  it for 
if  you  are  indeed  a believing  and  obeying  servant  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  although  the  poorest,  the  lowest,  and  the  most 
undeserving,  to  thee  will  God  assuredly  give  it.  Reflect  how 
immediate  the  hour  of  your  actual  possession  of  this  rich  in- 
heritance may  be — how  near  it  must  be  ; and  may  “ the  God 
of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing with  all 
comfort  and  consolation  now  in  the  prospect,  and  with  all  cer- 
tainty of  happiness  hereafter  in  the  fruition,  of  that  blissful 
country  in  which  those  “ who  die  in  the  Lord  shall  rest  from 
their  labours,”  and  rejoice  in  his  immediate  presence  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting. 


LECTURE  V. 

Genesis  xiv.  18. 

“ And  Mclchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  brought  forth  bread  and  wine  ; and 
he  was  the  priest  of  the  most  high  God : and  he  blessed  him.” 

The  next  incident  in  which  we  find  Abram  engaged,  differs 
remarkably  from  all  that  have  preceded  it.  The  patriarch  was 
pre-eminently  a man  of  peace,  willing,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
sacrifice  every  worldly  advantage,  rather  than  interrupt  that 
harmony  which  he  knew  to  be  so  essential  to  the  honour  of  his 
religious  profession,  and  so  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  his  God.  On  the  present  occasion,  however,  we  find  him 
assuming  the  character  of  the  warrior,  placing  himself  at  the 
head  of  a numerous  body  of  his  servants,  and  waging  a short 
but  successful  conflict  with  the  princes  of  the  warlike  tribes, 
among  whom  he  sojourned. 

We  are  informed  by  the  inspired  historian,  that  four  of  the 
neighbouring  princes  had  made  an  inroad  upon  the  cities  of  the 


54 


ABRAHAM. 


plain,  in  one  of  which,  even  in  the  accursed  Sodom,  Lot,  the 
nephew  of  Abram,  had  now  taken  up  his  permanent  abode ; 
and  having  conquered  the  kings  of  those  cities,  they  carried 
away  as  captives  Lot  and  his  family,  and  all  his  goods.  We 
may  just  remark  in  passing,  how  speedily  the  evil  fruits  of 
Lot’s  separation  from  Abram  became  apparent : he  left  this 
man  of  God,  fearful  lest  his  wealth  should  be  diminished  by 
the  want  of  an  abundant  pasturage ; and  the  very  n xt  men- 
tion that  is  made  of  him  is,  that  he  has  lost  everything  which 
he  so  highly  valued  and  so  dearly  purchased,  and  is  himself  an 
exile  and  a prisoner. 

“ Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out,”  was  as  completely 
verified  in  the  history  of  Lot,  as  in  that  of  Jacob.  The  original 
act  of  duplicity  in  the  latter  was,  as  we  observed  while  pur- 
suing his  history,  returned  upon  him  by  the  duplicity  of  others 
in  almost  every  important  incident  and  every  near  relationship 
of  life.  The  original  act  of  covetousness  in  the  former  seems 
to  have  been  equally  visited  upon  Lot  throughout  the  whole  of 
his  eventful  and  disastrous  career : every  trial  appearing  to  be 
so  appointed  by  the  hand  of  God,  as  to  touch  him  in  this  most 
tender  point,  until  in  the  last  stages  of  his  career,  from  the 
possession  of  flocks  and  herds,  so  that  the  land  was  not  able  to 
bear  him,  we  find  him  a poverty-stricken  outcast,  far  from  the 
fertile  plains  which  had  been  so  much  the  object  of  his  ambi- 
tion, closing  his  days  in  a cavern  of  the  mountains.  May  we 
never  be  tempted  to  forget,  my  brethren,  that  the  word  of  God 
has  declared  that  “ they  who  hasten  to  be  rich  fall  into  temp- 
tation and  a snare,”  for  a man’s  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesscth,  but  in  that  blessed 
state  of  mind  which  teaches  us  to  “ seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  his  righteousness,”  content  with  the  smallest  portion, 
and  the  narrowest  prospects  here  on  earth,  if  we  be  but  “ rich 
in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom.” 

No  sooner,  however,  was  the  calamity  in  which  Lot  was 
involved  communicated  to  Abram,  than  we  read  that  “ he 
armed  his  trained  servants  born  in  his  own  house,  three  hun- 


LECTURE  V. 


55 


dred  and  eighteen,  and  pursued  them  unto  Dan.  And  he 
divided  himself  against  them,  he  and  his  servants,  by  night, 
and  smote  them,  and  pursued  them  unto  Hobab,  which  is  on 
the  left  hand  of  Damascus.  And  he  brought  back  all  the  goods, 
and  also  brought  again  his  brother  Lot  and  his  goods,  and  the 
women  also  and  the  people.”  This  is  the  only  instance 
recorded  throughout  the  life  of  Abram,  of  his  engaging  in  any 
warlike  expedition.  Much  as  we  dislike  the  name  of  war,  and 
utterly  unchristian  and  unjustifiable  as  we  consider  every  spe- 
cies of  offensive  warfare,  we  cannot  withhold  our  approbation 
of  this  truly  disinterested  action  of  the  patriarch.  To  succour 
the  weak,  to  relieve  the  distressed,  to  liberate  the  captive,  were 
his  only  motives,  and  the  comfort  of  an  approving  conscience 
his  only  reward ; for  we  find  that  after  having  been  blessed 
with  the  most  signal  success,  the  use  of  which  he  delighted  to 
make  of  the  fruits  of  his  victory,  was  to  restore  all  that  had 
been  taken  to  their  rightful  owners. 

It  was  while  Abram  was  returning  from  this  successful 
enterprise,  that  his  interview  with  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
characters  in  holy  writ,  took  place.  A character  shrouded  in 
the  deepest  mystery,  and  of  whom  the  little  we  can  learn  is 
to  be  obtained  rather  by  “comparing  spiritual  things  with 
spiritual,”  and  by  throwing  the  light  of  other  portions  of  the 
word  of  God  upon  the  obscurity  of  this  dark  passage,  than  by 
any  thing  which  is  contained  in  the  passage  itself.  The  per- 
sonage to  whom  I allude  is  Melchizedek,  and  all  that  is  here 
narrated  of  him  is  as  follows  : — “ And  Melchizedek,  king  of 
Salem,  brought  forth  bread  and  wine : and  he  was  the  priest 
of  the  most  high  God.  And  he  blessed  him,  and  said.  Blessed 
be  Abram  of  the  most  high  God,  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth. 
And  blessed  be  the  most  high  God,  which  hath  delivered  thine 
enemies  into  thine  hand.  And  he  {i,  e,  Abram)  gave  him 
tithes  of  all.” 

No  further  mention  throughout  the  history  of  Abram  is  ever 
made  of  this  remarkable  person  ; but  the  next  time  we  hear  of 
him  is  in  a place  and  in  a manner  which  tend  extremely  to 


50 


ABRAHAM. 


exalt  him  in  our  view,  and  to  give  him  a pre-eminence  over 
many  other  characters  in  holy  writ,  of  whom  far  more  has 
been  recorded.  It  is  in  the  110th  Psalm,  that  Psalm  which  is 
dedicated  to  the  prophetic  declaration  of  the  future  glories  of 
the  Messiah,  that  the  next  mention  is  made  of  this  extraordi- 
nary person : we  are  there  informed,  “ The  Lord  hath  sworn, 
and  will  not  repent.  Thou  art  a priest  for  ever  after  the  order 
of  Melchizedek.”  While  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  leave 
us  no  possibility  of  doubting  of  whom  the  psalmist  spake, 
expressly  says,  “ Jesus,  made  an  high  priest  for  ever  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek.” 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  these  plain  and  familiar  lectures,  to 
enter  either  into  the  mazes  of  controversy,  or  into  the  depths 
of  critical  inquiry  ; I shall  not,  therefore,  occupy  your  time  by 
stating  the  various  conjectures — and  widely  varying  they  are — 
to  which  the  mysterious  account  of  Melchizedek  in  holy  writ 
has  given  rise.  There  is,  however,  one  which,  as  it  is  favoured 
by  some  of  our  best  commentators,  it  may  be  desirable  to  notice, 
viz. : that  Melchizedek  was  a personal  manifestation  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  himself  the  uncreated  angel  of  the 
covenant.  This  is  grounded  upon  that  declaration  of  the  apos- 
tle, in  the  7th  chapter  to  the  Hebrews,  which  says  that 
Melchizedek  was  “ without  father  and  without  mother,  without 
descent,  having  neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life.” 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  expressions  are  strictly 
applicable  to  none  but  our  blessed  Redeemer ; they  are,  how- 
ever, as  we  shall  see,  in  a modified  sense,  applicable  to  the 
person  of  whom  they  were  predicated,  and  whom,  notwithstand- 
ing this  remarkable  description,  we  believe  to  have  been  a mere 
mortal,  fashioned  in  all  points  like  as  we  are.  Indeed  it 
scarcely  appears  possible  that  Melchizedek  could  have  been  the 
Messiah  in  person,  for  the  same  apostle  hath  said  of  him,  that 
“ he  was  made  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,”  an  expression  of 
itself  sufficient  to  show  that  he  was  not  really  the  Son  of  God. 
We  should  therefore  incline  to  think  that  the  account  given  of 
him  by  Josephus  is  the  true  one,  viz.,  that  Melchizedek  was  a 


LECTURE  V 


57 


Caiiaanilish  prince,  a pious  and  religious  man,  eminently  raised 
up  by  God,  and  whose  genealogy  was  kept  a secret,  that  he 
might  be  in  this,  as  in  other  things,  a type  of  Christ. 

It  is  for  this  purpose  alone  that  he  appears  to  have  been 
introduced  into  the  page  of  Scripture  history  ; in  all  that  is  told 
of  him,  and  in  all  that  is  left  untold  of  him,  he  is  equally  a most 
remarkable  type  of  our  ever-blessed  Lord  ; and  we  should  there- 
fore scarcely  be  justified  if  we  were  not  to  dwell  awhile  upon 
these  points  of  resemblance  which  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews 
has  so  plainly  recorded.  “ This  Melchizedek,”  says  the 
apostle,  “ was  king  of  Salem.”  It  is  sometimes  thought  that 
the  Salem  of  which  Melchizedek  was  king,  was  in  after 
days  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  called  Salem  in  the  76th 
Psalm  ; but  this  is  improbable,  for  the  spot  where  the  interview 
between  Abram  and  Melchizedek  took  place,  was  between 
Damascus  and  Sodom,  while  Jerusalem  was  nearly  forty  miles 
distant,  and  in  a contrary  direction  ; there  is  little  doubt,  there- 
fore, that  this  Salem  was  the  Salem  of  the  New  Testament, 
“ near  to  which  John  was  baptizing,”  which  was  precisely  in 
the  situation  I have  described,  and  in  which,  according  to  Jerome, 
very  magnificent  ruins  were  shown  in  his  day  as  the  palace  of 
Melchizedek. 

The  apostle,  speaking  of  his  name,  says  that  he  was  called 
Melchizedek,  which  is  literally  Melchi  Zedek,  the  righteous 
king,  or  the  king  of  righteousness : speaking  of  his  title,  the 
same  apostle  says,  that  “ he  was  king  of  Salem,”  or  king  of 
peace,  which  is  the  literal  meaning  of  Salem.  In  both  his 
name,  therefore,  and  his  title,  he  was  eminently  a type  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  of  whom  we  are  told  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
“ A king  shall  reign  and  prosper,  and  this  is  his  name  whereby 
he  shall  be  called.  The  Lord  our  righteousness and  by  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  “ Unto  us  a child  is  born,  unto  us  a son  is  given, 
and  his  name  shall  be  called  the  Prince  of  Peace.” 

Again,  as  in  his  name  and  titles,  so  in  his  offices,  was  Mel- 
ohizedek  remarkably  a type  of  our  Lord.  We  are  told  by 
the  apostle,  that  he  was  not  only  king  of  Salem,  “but  a priest 


53 


ABRAHAM. 


of  the  most  high  God,” — offices  in  the  earlier  times  not  unfre- 
quently  united — and  by  this  union  he  typihed  the  kingly  and 
priestly  offices  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  of  whom  the  Almighty 
declared,  “ I have  set  my  king  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion 
and  again,  “ He  is  a merciful  and  faithful  high  priest,”  says  the 
apostle,  “a  great  high  priest  passed  into  the  heavens.” 

It  is  important  that  we  should  never  lose  sight  of  this  remark- 
able union  of  the  kingly  and  pr’estly  offices  in  the  person  of 
our  ever-blessed  Redeemer,  so  plainly  portrayed  in  the  types, 
and  set  forth  in  the  prophecies,  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  so 
remarkably  demonstrated  in  the  New.  But  be  not  content 
with  the  mere  scriptural  knowledge  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
is  indeed  both  priest  and  king : learn  rightly  to  estimate  the 
practical  value  of  such  an  acknowledgment ; carry  the  inquiry 
to  your  own  heart,  and  often  ask  yourself,  Is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  thus  united  in  both  these  important  offices  to  me? 
Have  I received  Him  as  my  Priest  to  atone  for  me,  and  my 
King  to  govern  me?  Unless  both  sceptres  are  freely  offered 
Him,  He  will  not  accept  the  proffered  sovereignty.  Where 
as  a priest  he  has  reconciled  you  to  God,  there  as  a king  must 
he  rule  in  your  daily  walk  and  conversation : where  he  has 
been  received  as  a “ king  of  righteousness,” — bestowing  an 
imputed  righteousness  which  shall  satisfy  God,  and  vouchsafing 
a sanctifying  righteousness  by  which  you  shall  glorify  God — 
there,  and  there  only,  will  He  come  as  “ King  of  Peace,”  with 
healing  on  his  wings,  pardoning,  comforting,  blessing,  “ keeping 
him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  upon  God.” 

Proceed  we  still  further  to  examine  those  points  in  which 
Melcbizedek  was  a type  of  our  Lord  in  what  was  not  revealed 
of  him,  as  we  have  seen  him  to  be  in  that  which  was  made 
manifest. 

The  apostle  declares  that  Melchizedek  “ was  without  father, 
without  mother,  without  descent,”  i,  e,  the  Holy  Spirit  pur- 
posely concealed  his  parentage,  to  make  him  a more  perfect 
type  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  than  he  could  have  been  by 
any  other  method.  For  as  Melchizedek  was  “ without  father,” 


LECTURE  V. 


59 


SO  also  was  our  Lord  in  his  human  nature,  being  horn  of  a 
pure  virgin ; as  Melchizedek  was  “ without  mother,”  so  was 
our  Lord  in  his  divine  nature,  being  the  Son  of  God  by  an 
eternal  generation ; as  Melchizedek  was  “ without  descent, 
having  neither  beginning  of  days,  nor  end  of  life,”  i,  e.  in  other 
words,  neither  his  birth  nor  his  death  ha\ung  been  recorded,  so 
did  the  prophet  Micah  expressly  say  of  our  Lord,  “ his  goings 
forth  have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting.”  He  was  thus 
literally,  what  Melchizedek  was  only  apparently,  “ without 
descent,”  “ for  He  was  in  the  beginning,”  and  from  everlasting, 
before  time  was  created,  and  He  shall  be  “ to  everlasting,” 
when  time  shall  be  no  more.  “ Who  then,”  as  the  prophet 
asks,  “ shall  declare  his  generation  ?”  Melchizedek’s  descent 
was  not  declared,  only  that  he  might  be  the  r^iore  perfect  type 
of  Him  whose  descent  could  not  be  declared. 

But  let  us  turn  from  the  name,  and  the  titles,  and  the  offices, 
and  the  genealogy,  of  Melchizedek,  to  his  employments,  and 
we  shall  find  him  still  presenting  the  same  striking  and  beauti- 
ful type  of  the  true  “ king  of  righteousness”  and  “ king  of 
peace.” 

In  the  short  passage  in  which  Melchizedek  is  presented  to 
us,  we  read  that  he  was  engaged  in  three  remarkable  occupa- 
tions. He  received  tithes  of  all  that  Abram  possessed ; he 
brought  forth  bread  and  wine  for  the  refreshment  of  the  patriarch 
and  of  his  weary  followers  ; and,  in  a very  solemn  and  peculiar 
manner,  he  bestowed  his  blessing  upon  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

l eaving  the  consideration  of  Melchizedek  receiving  the 
tithes  of  Abram,  the  object  of  which  is  most  fully  discussed 
by  St.  Paul  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
let  us  rather  pass  on  to  the  two  remaining  actions  of  this  re- 
markable personage,  in  the  hope  and  with  the  prayer  that  we 
may  derive  something  of  personal  benefit  and  consolation  by 
looking  through  the  type  to  that  blessed  Being  who  is  the  great 
and  glorious  antitype. 

We  are  told  in  the  words  of  the  text,  that  when  Abram  was 
returning  from  the  slaughter  of  the  kings,  Melchizedek,  as  a 


00 


ABRAHAM. 


king,  met  him,  and  brought  forth  bread  and  wine  to  refresh  and 
sustain  him  after  the  toils  of  the  conflict.  Now  turn  we  to 
the  illustrious  antitype,  our  Lord  and  our  Redeemer,  and  be- 
hold Him,  as  a gracious  and  all-powerful  king,  employed  in 
the  same  merciful  act  of  condescension  and  kindness  to  his 
weary  followers.  When  you,  my  Christian  brethren, — I would 
address  myself  to  the  experience  of  the  Christian’s  heart, — 
during  the  toils  of  your  pilgrimage,  the  conflicts  of  your  warfare, 
are  like  the  soldiers  of  Gideon,  “ faint  yet  pursuing when 
you  feel  almost  sinking  beneath  the  repeated  assaults  of  your 
spiritual  enemies,  and,  although  you  may  have  successfully 
repelled  them,  are  still  trembling  lest  you  should  fall  before 
their  renewed  attack,  how  mercifully  does  your  King,  like 
Melchizedek  of  old,  bring  forth  his  bread  and  wine  ; the  bread 
of  his  supporting  and  strengthening  word,  the  wine  of  his 
heart-elevating  promises,  to  cheer  and  recruit  your  drooping 
spirits  ! Were  it  not  for  his  blessed  aid,  how  often  ere  this 
would  you  have  sunk,  wearied  and  exhausted,  in  the  unequal 
conflict ; how  often  would  even  the  moment  of  victory,  the 
most  dangerous  moment  to  the  Christian,  have  been  the  moment 
of  fatal  and  irremediable  defeat;  when  the  powers  of  darkness 
having  been  vanquished,  the  temptation  successfully  opposed, 
the  evil  spirit  of  self-complacency  comes  hovering  upon  ihe 
track  of  the  retreating  foe,  and  you,  who  had  so  lately  triumphed, 
would,  but  for  the  aid  of  your  all-merciful  Sovereign,  have  sunk 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  enemy. 

Lastly  : did  Melchizedek  not  only  as  a king  sustain  and 
cheer  the  returning  patriarch,  but  also  as  a priest,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  bestow  upon  him  his  blessing  ? Behold  again 
the  gracious  antitype,  our  Lord  and  our  Redeemer,  in  the  last 
scene  of  his  mortal  life,  a life  of  suffering  love,  when,  as  a 
priest.  He  was  about  to  “ enter  in  within  the  veil,”  “ leading 
out  his  disciples  from  the  holy  city,  and  lifting  up  his  hands 
and  blessing  them,  and  while  he  was  blessing  them,  he  was 
parted  from  them  and  carried  up  into  heaven.”  How  delight- 
ful is  the  thought  to  every  humble  follower  of  our  adorable 


LECTURE  VI. 


G1 


Redeemer,  that  the  last  time  the  Saviour,  in  K of  flesh, 

was  ever  looked  upon  by  mortal  eye,  the  last  time  He  mingled 
in  matchless  condescension  with  the  church  militant  here  on 
earth.  He  was  thus  graciously,  thus  mercifully,  thus  compas- 
sionately engaged  in  fulfilling  his  priestly  oflice,  in  blessing  his 
poor,  forlorn,  and  helpless  followers  ! How  encouraging  is 
the  belief,  that  at  the  present  day,  and  at  the  present  hour,  this 
is,  and  while  time  remains  this  shall  be  still,  his  merciful  occu- 
pation, that  as  a great  High  Priest  he  has  entered  into  the  holy 
of  holies  to  plead  for  his  people  ; for  “ He  ever  liveth  to  make 
intercession  for  us,”  ever  liveth  to  bless  with  the  tokens  of  his 
love,  with  the  communications  of  his  grace,  each  individual 
member  of  his  redeemed  and  ransomed  family.  Nor  is  this 
all.  It  was  not  enough  that  his  last  act  on  earth  should  be  an 
act  of  blessing,  his  present  occupation  still  the  same,  but  when 
he  comes  again,  it  shall  be  for  the  same  most  gracious  purpose  ! 

How  glorious  is  the  anticipation,  that  when  time  shall  be  no 
longer,  when  we  shall  see  Him  “ whom  having  not  seen  we 
love,”  the  first  accents  of  his  voice,  upon  the  day  of  his  long 
looked  for,  prayed  for,  wished  for  return,  when  he  shall  come 
surrounded  by  the  church  triumphant,  will  still  be  the  language 
of  blessing  ! He  shall  come  forth  to  bless  his  people,  saying 
to  each  and  to  all  who  have  denied  themselves  and  taken  up 
liis  cross,  and  in  heart  and  affection,  and  life  and  conversation, 
followed  him,  “ Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servants,  enter 
into  the  joy  of  your  Lord.” 


LECTURE  VT. 

Genesis  xv.  6. 

“ He  believed  in  the  Lord  ; and  he  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness.’* 

We  concluded  our  last  discourse  with  the  consideration  of 
Abram’s  interview  with  Melchizedek,  upon  the  former’s  return 

() 


62 


ABRAHAM. 


from  his  successful  expedition  against  the  four  kings.  There 
was  yet  another,  and  almost  equally  remarkable  interview,  which 
occurred  at  the  same  time  and  place.  “ The  king  of  Sodom,” 
who  had  suffered  so  severely  from  the  inroad  of  the  four  kings, 
whom  Abram  had  vanquished,  “ went  out  to  meet  him,”  and 
said  unto  him,  Give  me  the  persons,  and  take  the  goods  to  thy- 
self.” In  other  words,  restore  to  me  my  subjects,  who  have 
been  carried  away  captive,  and  whom  you  have  liberated,  and 
keep  as  a recompense,  the  flocks,  and  the  herds,  and  the  goods, 
which  are  justly  the  property  of  the  conqueror.  And  Abram 
said  to  the  king  of  Sodom,  “ I have  lift  up  my  hand  unto  the 
Lord,”(^.  e,  1 have  sworn,)  “ that  1 will  not  take  from  a thread 
even  to  a shoe-latchet,  and  that  I will  not  take  any  thing  that  is 
thine,  lest  thou  shouldest  say,  I have  made  Abram  rich.”^  What 
another  beautiful  testimony  is  here  given  to  the  disinterested- 
ness of  the  patriarch  ? He  would  receive  no  reward  at  the 
hands  of  the  ungoldly  king  of  an  abandoned  and  God-deserted 
city.  But  for  the  men  that  were  with  him,  the  three  princes 
who  had  joined  him  in  the  conflict  and  the  pursuit,  “ Let  them,” 
said  Abram,  “ take  their  portion.”  They  probably  were  not 
the  followers  of  the  God  of  Abram,  and  over  them  he  desired 
to  exercise  no  control ; but  for  himself,  he  was  firm  and  decided 
that  nothing  of  the  goods  of  Sodom  should  cleave  to  him.  He 
looked  for  his  support  and  his  subsistence  here,  to  the  Lord, 
and  to  him  alone ; he  knew  that  “ his  bread  and  his  water 
should  be  sure.”  God  had  undertaken  to  provide  for  him — 
the  Lord  had  provided,  the  Lord  would  provide — and  Abram 
had  learnt  to  trust  the  word  of  God’s  promises,  even  where  he 
could  not  trace  the  hand  of  his  providence. 

My  brethren,  would  that  we  were  able  to  say  that  the 
spiritual  children  of  Abram  acted  at  the  present  day  in  accord- 
ance with  this  admirable  example.  But  is  it  not,  on  the  contrary, 
continually  brought  as  a charge  against  the  professing  Christians 
of  our  times,  that  instead  of  evidencing  this  unworldly  and 
generous  spirit,  there  are  few  who  are  more  anxious  to  secure 
every  possible  temporal  advantage  than  themselves ; few  who 


LECTURE  VI. 


63 


are  more  eagle-eyed  after  the  emoluments  of  this  world,  or 
more  inclined,  I will  not  say  to  overstep  the  bounds  of  the 
strictest  honesty,  in  the  acquirement  of  them,  but  to  advance 
to  the  very  limits  of  those  boundaries.  You,  my  brethren, 
who  thus  act,  plainly  demonstrate,  that  while  you  profess  to 
trust  God  for  the  eternal  salvation  of  your  soul,  that  jewel  of 
inestimable  value,  you  cannot  really  trust  him  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  poor  perishable  casket  which  contains  it. 

Again,  how  often  do  we  hear  it  said,  that  there  is  far  more 
liberality,  more  openness  of  dealing,  more  disinterestedness 
among  the  high-minded  people  of  the  world,  than  among  many 
of  whom  we  may  not  doubt  that  they  are  the  people  of  God. 
This  is  a distressing  truth,  but  one  which  must  not  be  sup- 
pressed. You  excel  the  people  of  the  world,  my  Christian 
brethren,  upon  every  point  which  involves  your  duty  to  your 
heavenly  Father,  let  it  not  be  said  that  you  do  not  equally  excel 
them  in  your  duties  to  your  fellow-men  : let  it  be  evident,  that 
the  graces  of  the  Christian  are  as  superior  to  the  virtues  of  the 
man  of  the  world,  in  the  every-day  transactions  of  life,  as  the 
Christian’s  motive  is  superior  to  the  worldling’s  motive,  and 
the  joys  of  the  Christian’s  heaven  are  superior  to  the  pleasures 
and  immunities  of  earth.  And  especially  you,  my  poorer 
brethren,  when  you  are  tempted  to  relieve  your  poverty  by  any 
act  of  petty  dishonesty  of  your  own,  or  by  sharing  in  the 
doubtfully-acquired  property  of  another  ; or,  if  you  fill  the  office 
of  domestic  servants,  by  what  are  termed  in  the  language  of 
the  world,  the  perquisites  of  your  station,  but  are,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  God,  too  often  positive  thefts  ; remember  the  upright, 
disinterested  example  of  him  of  whom  we  speak:  be  “jealous 
over  yourselves  with  a godly  jealousy,”  lest  you  should  put 
it  into  the  power  of  your  spiritual  enemy  to  say  hereafter,  as 
the  king  of  Sodom  would  have  said  of  Abram,  I have  made 

THIS  MAN  RICH  ! 

If  you  are  a child  of  God,  be  assured  you  shall  never  want 
such  a child’s  portion  of  the  good  things  of  this  world,  as  a 
Father,  who  knows  you  infinitely  better  than  you  know  your- 


G4 


ABRAHAM. 


self,  thinks  best  for  your  own  interests,  and  for  his  glory  : rest 
therefore  in  faith  upon  the  promise,  that  the  Lord  hath  pro- 
vided, and  the  Lord  will  provide. 

It  was  “ after  these  things,” 'says  the  inspired  historian,  that 
“ the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Abram  in  a vision,  saying. 
Fear  not,  Abram  : I am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great 
reward.”  Abram  in  all  probability  felt,  that  although  he  had 
thus  surprised  his  enemies,  and  been  successful  in  this  mid- 
night encounter,  there  was  no  security  against  the  future 
attack,  and  therefore,  bold  as  he  was,  he  “ feared  ;”  his  heart 
probably  quailed  within  him  at  the  thought  that  he  was  an 
unprotected  stranger  in  a foreign  land,  that  his  vanquished  foes 
might  again  return  upon  him,  and  that  he  might  yet  perish  by 
the  hand  of  his  enemies.  The  fears  which  Abram  felt  on  this 
occasion  do  not  appear  to  have  been  expressed,  but  God  knoweth 
the  heart  and  all  that  is  passing  there,  and  therefore  this  was 
the  moment  that  the  Lord  appeared  to  him, — “ after  these 
things — saying,  “ Fear  not,  Abram  ; I am  thy  shield.” 

How  consolatory  is  it  to  the  Christian  to  be  thus  assured 
that  all  the  secret  fears  of  his  heart,  as  well  as  the  outward 
afflictions  of  his  lot,  are  equally  known  to  God.  “Let  not 
your  hearts  be  troubled,”  was  the  merciful  address  of  our  Lord 
to  his  sorrowing  though  silent  disciples.  Every  secret  fear, 
therefore,  my  brethren,  is  known  to  Him  “from  whom  no 
-’iecrets  are  hid  ;”  and  while  you  are  trembling  with  anxiety  lest 
you  should  still  sink  before  your  spiritual  enemies  ; like  David, 
.est  you  should  still  “ perish  by  the  hand  of  Saul ;”  your  Re- 
deemer declares  to  you  there  is  no  cause  for  alarm,  for  “ I am 
thy  shield.”  However  thickly  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked 
one  may  fall  around  thee,  they  shall  not  pierce  thee  while  God 
is  thy  shield  ; “ a thousand  shall  fall  at  thy  side,  and  ten  thou- 
sand at  thy  right  hand  ; but  it  shall  not  come  nigh  thee,  for  he 
shall  cover  thee  with  his  feathers,  and  under  his  wings  shall 
thou  be  safe ; his  righteousness  and  truth  shall  be  thy  shield 
and  buckler.” 

It  is  thus,  as  the  psalmist  says,  “ our  fathers  trusted  in  God, 


LECTURE  VI. 


fiS 

and  were  not  confounded.”  It  is  thus  when  you,  my  brethren, 
forego  any  unworthy  advantage,  when  you  renounce  any 
worldly  gratification,  when  you  refuse  any  forbidden  or  dis- 
honest profits,  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  you  “ shall  in  nowise  lose 
your  reward the  Lord  himself  will  be  “ the  portion  of  your 
inheritance  and  of  your  cup.  He  will  maintain  your  lot ,” 
however  the  world  may  frown  upon  you  and  withhold  its 
capricious  favours,  or  separate  from  you  and  deny  its  transitory 
aggrandizements,  remember  that  there  is  One  who  hath  said, 

“ I am  thy  exceeding  great  reward,'*'*  Wanting  his  presence 
and  his  blessing  in  the  richest  earthly  abundance,  you  are  poor 
i ideed  ; but  possessing  Him,  enabled  by  his  Spirit  to  say, 

“ Christ  is  mine,”  and  your  habitation,  though  it  be  but  a hovel, 
will  be  the  abode  of  contentment  and  peace  ; your  heart,  though 
it  be  often  grieved  by  sin  and  oppressed  by  outward  misery, 
will  be  “ the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,”  and  your  spirit 
meetening,  by  all  which  happens  here  below,  for  an  inheritance 
beyond  the  skies. 

As  soon  as  the  Almighty  had  thus  revealed  himself  to  Abram, 
we  find  the  patriarch  availing  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  this 
personal  communication  with  the  great  Jehovah,  to  remind  Him 
of  his  promise,  and  to  urge  upon  Him  its  fulfilment.  “ And 
Abram  said,  Lord  God,  what  wilt  thou  give  me,  seeing  that  I 
go  childless,  and  the  steward  of  my  house  is  this  Eliezer  of 
Damascus  ? And  Abram  said.  Behold,  to  me  thou  hast  given 
no  seed,  and,  lo,  one  born  in  my  house  is  mine  heir.”  We  ob- 
serve in  this  remonstrance  of  Abram,  perhaps  something  of  the 
infirmity  of  our  fallen  nature,  but  certainly  joined  to  an  earnest 
and  praiseworthy  desire  after  the  promised  blessing.  He  does 
not  indeed  appear  to  doubt  that  God  would  make  of  him  a great 
nation,  and  that  “ in  his  seed,  even  in  Christ,  all  nations  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed but  time  was  passing  on,  eight  years 
had  already  elapsed  since  the  promise  was  first  promulged,  and 
yet  no  signs  of  its  fulfilment.  Abram  therefore  pleads  with  the 
Lord  ; as  if  he  had  said,  Thou  hast  just  declared  thyself,  “ my 
exceeding  great  reward,”  and  yet  the  promised  seed  is  withheld,  • 

G* 


66 


ABRAHAM. 


and  I go  down  the  vale  of  years  childless ; and  to  the  eye  of 
sense  it  appears  as  if  my  faithful  servant  Eliezer,  born  in  my 
house,  were  to  be  my  adopted  heir,  and  I were  to  lose  the 
glory  of  being,  in  a still  more  literal  manner,  the  progenitor  of 
the  great  Messiah. 

Behold  how  mercifully  the  Almighty  bears  with  the  infirmi- 
ties of  his  people  ! He  knew  the  heart  of  the  patriarch,  and 
therefore  knew  that  his  complaint  was  not  the  mere  complaint 
of  the  natural  man  fearing  to  be  written  childless,  but  the  earnest 
heart-felt  longing  of  the  spiritual  man  for  a closer  relationship 
to  his  Lord,  a nearer  affinity  to  that  Saviour  whom  he  had  been 
already  taught  to  believe  in,  to  love,  and  to  expect.  Hesitate 
not  my  brethren,  to  express  feelings  such  as  these  to  a compas- 
sionate God.  When  you  find  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  pro- 
mises and  all  the  ordinances  which  He  has  mercifully  bestowed 
upon  you,  you  are  still  far  less  closely  united  to  your  Redeemer, 
your  great  and  glorified  Head,  than  you  hoped,  and  prayed,  and 
expected  that  ere  this  yon  should  have  been,  it  is  a legitimate 
cause  of  complaint  to  the  Most  High  ; tell  your  difficulties  unto 
the  Lord,  deplore  before  Him  your  distance,  the  coldness  of 
your  affections,  the  deadness  of  your  heart,  the  unprofitable- 
ness of  your  sacraments  and  your  prayers.  Say  with  Abram, 
“ Lord,  what  wilt  thou  give  me  ?”  what  canst  thou  give  me  that 
can  at  all  compensate  for  such  a loss  as  this  ? Remember  thy 
promises  which  have  been  ever  of  old  ; remember  thy  word 
upon  which  thou  hast  caused  thy  servant  to  hope  ; remember 
Him  who  has  purchased  me  with  his  blood,  whose  I am,  and 
whom  I desire  to  serve ; cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence, 
and  take  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me.  If  I am  not  “ one  with 
Christ,  and  Christ  with  me  if  thou  givest  me  not  Christ,  an 
interest  in  his  blood,  a hope  of  his  salvation,  a place  in  his 
kingdom,  all  that  thou  hast  given  or  canst  give,  in  comparison 
of  what  thou  hast  withheld,  will  be  little  worth. 

God  loves  to  be  thus  humbly  but  plainly  reminded  of  hif 
promises.  He  loves  to  see  his  children  thus  coveting,  and 
“coveting  earnestly  the  best  gifts  for  what  would  it  profit 


LECTUIIK  VI. 


67 


them  if  they  were  to  gain  tlie  whole  world,  and  yet  lose  their 
interest  in  the  Lamb  slain  from  its  foundation  ? What  will  it 
profit  you,  if  you  abound  to  overflowing  with  this  world’s 
goods,  and  yet  have  not  the  blood  of  Christ  sprinkled  upon 
your  conscience,  his  love  and  his  Spirit  within  your  heart  ? 
Abram’s  remonstrance  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  God 
of  Sabaoth.  For  “ behold  the  wmrd  of  the  Lord  came  unto 
him,  saying.  This  (speaking  of  his  servant  Eliezer)  shall  not 
be  thine  heir,  but  he  that  shall  come  forth  out  of  thine  own 
bowels  shall  be  thine  heir.”  And  having  said  this,  the  Lord  led 
Abram  to  the  door  of  his  tent,  and  pointing  to  the  apparently 
innumerable  stars  that  were  yet  glittering  in  the  firmament— 
for  this  manifestation  of  the  Almighty  was  made  before  the 
dawn  of  day — “ Look  now  towards  heaven,”  said  God,  “ and 
tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number  them  ; and  he  said  unto 
him,  So  shall  thy  seed  be.  And  he  believed  in  the  Lord,  and 
He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness.” 

It  was  thus  that  the  Almighty  listened  to  the  anxious  desire 
of  his  faithful  servant,  and  again  pledged  himself  more  strongly 
than  ever  to  the  fulfilment  of  it;  and  it  was  thus  that  Abram 
was  accepted  before  God  by  a simple  reliance  upon  his  pro- 
mise, and  obtained  the  name  which  has  distinguished  him  in 
all  ages  of  the  world  as  “ the  father  of  the  faithful.”  “ He 
believed  God,”  utterly  improbable,  considering  his  advanced 
age  and  the  advanced  age  of  Sarai  his  wife,  as  such  a declara- 
tion must  have  appeared ; he  believed  at  once  and  unhesitatingly 
in  the  promises  of  the  Lord,  and  God  “ counted  it  to  him  for 
righteousness.”  He  believed  that  he  should  possess  an  innu- 
merable progeny,  that  in  his  seed,  ?.  e,  Christ,  as  the  apostle 
tells  us,  all  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed  ; he  believed 
therefore  in  the  Messiah  who  should  come,  and  so  believing, 
his  faitn  was,  as  the  homily  expresses  it,  “ the  hand  which 
put  on  Christ,”  and  therefore  instrumentally  justified  him 
before  God. 

My  Christian  brethren,  it  is  of  essential  importance  that  you 
should  understand  the  method  by  which  Abram  was  tlius 


63 


ABRAHAM. 


accounted  righteous  before  God,  not  as  a matter  ot  mere  his- 
torical research,  or  even  of  doctrinal  inquiry,  but  as  a matter 
of  the  deepest  personal  interest.  The  way  of  salvation  has 
been  one  and  the  same  from  the  creation  of  the  world ; “ justi- 
fication by  faith  only,”  is  as  evidently  a doctrine  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  it  is  a doctrine  of  the  New,  or  an  article  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Our  Lord  himself  tells  us,  “ Abram 
rejoiced  to  see  his  day,  and  he  saw  it  and  was  glad  by  which 
he  can  only  mean  that  Abram  rejoiced  to  foresee  the  coming 
of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  in  the  flesh,  a crucified  and  glorified 
Redeemer^  and  the  unspeakably  great  and  blessed  consequences 
of  it.  It  was  thus  that  Abram  and  all  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets  and  spiritual  worshippers  of  God  under  the  old  dis- 
pensation, believed,  with  the  fullest  assurances  of  faith,  on  the 
person  of  the  Messiah  who  should  come,  as  every  spiritual 
worshipper  now  believes  on  the  Messiah  who  has  come.  The 
object  of  faith  is  in ^both  cases  the  same, — and  the  effect  of  faith 
is  in  both  cases  the  same — justification  and  peace,  acceptance 
and  holiness, — “Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with 
God,”  and  the  faith  by  which  we  are  justified  being  a living 
and  an  operative  faith,  daily  evinces  its  fruits  in  “all  holy  con- 
versation and  godliness.” 

Earnestly  therefore  would  I beseech  you  to  inquire  of  your 
own  hearts,  whetlier  you  have  been  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
to  receive  this  most  important  and  deeply  influential  truth. 
How  can  I be  accounted  righteous  before  God  ? is  the  first 
great  question  of  the  awakened  sinner’s  heart.  Has  it  ever 
been — is  it  at  this  moment, — the  inquiry  of  yours  ? If  it  be, 
the  words  of  the  text  are  the  answer  which  God  himself  has 
given  to  it — Abram  “ believed  in  the  Lord,  and  he  counted  it 
to  him  for  righteousness.”  Do  you,  according  to  the  increased 
light  and  means  of  obtaining  it  in  the  dispensation  under  which 
you  live,  “ believe  in  the  Lord,^’  believe  that  his  sinless  sacri- 
fice alone  can  atone  for  your  sins,  his  righteousness  satisfy  God 
for  your  unrighteousness,  his  Spirit  sanctify  you  from  all  un- 
cleanness and  infirmity,  and  lead  you  to  glorify  God  in  your 


LECTURE  VII. 


69 


day  and  generation  ? So  believing  with  a true,  a living,  an 
obeying  faith,  the  object  of  your  belief,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
will  be  made  unto  you  “ wisdom  and  righteousness,  and  sancti- 
fication and  redemption  so  believing,  you  also  will  be  justified 
before  God ; and  “ whom  He  justifies,  them  He  also  glorifies.” 
Therefore,  as  the  apostle  says,  “ there  is  now  no  condemna- 
tion”— there  will  be  none  hereafter — to  you  “ who  are  in  Christ 
Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit.” 


LECTURE  VIL 

Genesis  xv.  17. 

“ And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  sun  went  down,  and  it  was  dark, 
behold  a smoking  furnace,  and  a burning  lamp  that  passed  between  those 
pieces.” 

We  considered,  in  the  last  discourse,  the  testimony  borne 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  faith  of  Abram,  with  respect  to  the 
promised  seed,  and  to  the  Messiah  who  should  spring  from  his 
loins.  “He  believed  God,  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for 
righteousness.” 

There  was  yet,  however,  another  subject  upon  which  the 
faith  of  the  patriarch  was  to  be  exercised,  which  had  been 
already  revealed  to  him  by  the  Almighty,  and  wdiich  was  now 
briefly  but  strikingly  reiterated.  This  was  the  promis’e  of  the 
territory  which  his  future  progeny  should  inherit.  The  Lord 
said  unto  Abram,  “ I am  the  Lord  that  brought  thee  out  of  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees,  to  give  thee  this  land  to  inherit  it.” 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  with  what  a beautiful  propriety 
to  the  peculiar  subject  of  the  revelation,  the  Almighty  always 
adapts  the  name  under  which  he  reveals  himself.  Thus,  when 
about  to  deliver  to  the  Israelites  a law  which  was  to  bind  them 
to  Him  as  a people  for  ever,  the  Almighty  marked  his  peculiar 
claims  upon  their  gratitude  and  their  obedience,  by  saying,  “ I 


70 


ABRAHAM. 


am  the  Lord,  the  God  which  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage leaving  it  to  their  own 
hearts  to  supply  the  addition,  “ Can  we  therefore  refuse  to 
obey  Him  who  has  broken  every  chain  which  held  us  in 
captivity,  that  He  might'  bind  us  to  himself  in  the  bonds  of 
love?”  It  was  thus  also  that  the  Lord  ushered  in  to  Abram 
the  improbable  promise  of  the  whole  territory  upon  which  he 
stood,  by  revealing  himself  to  him  as  the  God  who  had  done 
greater  things  for  him  than  this  already,  when  He  brought  him 
out  of  the  idolatrous  land  of  his  nativity. 

And  is  it  not  in  a similar  manner,  my  brethren,  and  with  the 
same  beautiful  propriety,  that  the  Almighty  continues  to  reveal 
himself  to  the  heart  of  every  one  of  his  believing  and  obeying 
people  ? Does  He  not  say  to  each  of  you,  lam  the  Lord  who 
redeemed  thee,  I am  He  who  called  thee  when  in  ignorance 
and  sin  ? “ When  I passed  by  thee,”  (I  quote  the  words  of  God 
by  his  prophet  Ezekiel,)  and  saw  thee  polluted  in  thine  own 
blood,  I said  unto  thee.  Live  ;”  and  wilt  thou  cease  to  follow 
me,  or  can  I ever  cease  to  love,  to  guard,  and  to  provide  for 
thee  ? Surely  there  can  be  no  promise  of  future  protection  so 
encouraging  as  the  recollection  of  past  mercies  ? What  could 
establish  Abram  more  fully  in  the  hope  that  the  land  of  Canaan 
should  one  day  be  his  own,  than  the  remembrance  that  he  who 
promised  it  had  already  demonstrated  his  love,  by  calling  him 
from  the  land  of  the  Chaldees ; and  his  power,  by  bringing 
him  thus  far  in  security  and  peace  ? What  can  establiah  you, 
my  brethren,  so  fully  in  the  hope  of  an  inheritance  in  the 
heavenly  Canaan^  as  the  grateful  recollection  of  all  that  your 
heavenly  Father  has  done  for  you  in  the  land  of  your  nativity  ? 
When  you  remember  for  how  many  years  you  most  probably 
lived  in  utter  forgetfulness  or  ignorance  of  God,  and  yet  during 
the  whole  of  that  period,  were  nurtured  by  his  parental  care  ; 
when  you  consider  for  how  long  a time  you  continued,  perhaps 
in  open  defiance,  or  in  secret  neglect  of  God,  and  yet  even  then 
were  sought  and  found  by  the  influences  of  his  good  Spirit, 
and  brought  to  some  litfle  degree  of  knowledge  and  love  of 


LECTURE  VII. 


11 


himself ; when  again  you  reflect  how  God  has  watched  over 
you  since  you  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  how  He  has  preserved  you  from  dangers,  secured 
you  in  seasons  of  temptation,  supported  you  in  times  of  trial, 
cherished  you  in  the  days  of  sickness,  comforted  you  in  the 
hours  of  despondency ; you  cannot  imagine  that  he  will  now 
desert  you — you  cannot  believe  that  He  will  so  mar  the  work 
of  his  own  hands,  the  labour  of  his  own  love,  as  to  cast  you 
off  for  ever,  and  after  bearing  with  you  through  all  the  toils  of 
the  journey,  forsake  you  when  drawing  to  your  journey’s  end, 
O mo,  my  beloved  brethren ! I^earn  to  have  more  confidence 
in  your  God,  more  rdiance  upon  Him  who  has  said,  “ I have 
loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving-kind- 
ness have  I drawn  thee more  dependence  upon  Him  who, 
while  you  were  yet  enemies,  poured  forth  his  blood  upon  the 
cross  to  reconcile  you  to  God.  There  cannot  have  been  such 
an  expenditure  of  love  for  so  small,  so  pitiful  a return  ; nothing 
short  of  the  eternal  safety  of.  your  undying  spirit  can  be  a 
sufficient  compensation  for  love  so  bountiful,  so  infinite. 

No  sooner  had  the  Almighty  repeated  to  Abram  the  promise 
which  we  have  been  considering,  than  we  are  told  that  the 
father  of  the  faithful  replied,  “ Lord  God,  whereby  shall  I know 
that  I shall  inherit  it  ?” 

There  is  no  reason  to  conclude  from  this,  that  Abram 
doubted  that  he  should  inherit  the  promised  land  ; we  are 
indeed  assured  that  he  fully  believed  in  the  Lord.  But  who 
is  there  among  the  sons  of  men  whose  faith  is  so  perfect  as  to 
require  no  confirmation  ? Among  the  many  real  children  of 
God  who  can  say,  I hope  that  I have  an  interest  in  the  great 
atonement,  I believe  and  trust  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  my 
Redeemer  ; how  few  are  there,  comparatively,  who  are  enabled 
to  declare,  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith  with  the  appropriation 
of  holy  Job  of  old,  “ I know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth.”  Who 
is  there,  therefore,  who  may  not  with  propriety  adopt  the  prayer 
of  the  believing  father  in  the  Gospel,  “ Lord,  I believe  ; help 
thou  mine  unbelief.” 


7^ 


ABRAHAM. 


It  was  doubtless  upon  this  principle  that  we  find  the 
Almighty  listening  without  displeasure  to  the  requests  both  of 
Gideon  and  of  Hezekiah,  when  they,  although  believing, 
required  a sign  in  corroboration  of  their  belief ; and  even 
blaming  the  unbelieving  Ahaz  for  stubbornly  refusing  to  ask  a 
sign,  when  it  was  freely  offered  him  by  God  himself. 

In  the  present  instance,  therefore,  the  Almighty  immediately 
acceded  to  the  implied  request  of  the  patriarch,  and  commanded 
him,  saying,  “ Take  me  an  heifer  of  three  years  old,  and  a she- 
goat  of  three  years  old,  and  a ram  of  three  years  old,  and  a 
turtle-dove  *and^  a young  pigeon.  And  he  took  unto  him  ..all 
these,  and  divided  them  in  the  midst,  and  laid  each  piece  one 
against  another  : but  the  birds  divided  he  not.” 

Thus  was  every  thing  placed  in  order  for  the  sign  which 
Abram  had  asked,  and  which  the  Almighty  had  readily  pro- 
mised. Still  was  Abram  required  to  “ tarry  the  Lord’s  leisure.” 
From  the  early  dawn  to  the  closing  eve,  did  he  sit  beside  the 
sacrifice,  but  there  was  no  voice  nor  any  that  answered  ; and 
yet  he  neither  slumbered  nor  slept ; neither  suffered  himself  to 
repine,  nor  became  careless  or  indifferent ; so  far  from  it,  that 
we  are  told,  “ when  the  fowls  came  down  upon  the  carcasses, 
Abram  drove  them  away  ;”  he  would  not  suffer  that  which  he 
was  ofiering  to  the  Lord,  to  be  either  diminished  or  defiled. 
Would,  my  brethren,  that  in  all  our  religious  duties,  there  were 
the  same  patient  spirit  of  watchfulness,  and  the  same  untiring 
assiduity,  the  same  unflagging  zeal ; that  while  engaged  in  the 
service  of  our  God  we  were  equally  anxious  to  banish  every 
wandering  thought,  to  drive  far  away  from  us  every  worldly 
imagination — those  unclean  birds  which  come  down  upon  our 
offerings,  and  sully,  and  taint,  and  disfigure  every  sacrifice 
winch  we  would  bring  to  the  altar  of  the  Lord. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  when  Abram’s  faithfulness  and 
watchfulness  having  been  sufficiently  tried,  the  Lord  redeemed 
his  promise. 

“ When  the  sun  was  going  down,”  says  the  inspired  histo- 
rian, “ a deep  sleep  fell  upon  Abram,  and  lo,  a horror  of  great 


LECTURE  VII. 


73 


darkness  fell  upon  him.”  It  was  while  in  this  supernatural 
ecstacy,  that  the  Almighty  delivered  to  him  the  following  pro- 
phecy of  the  fate  which  awaited  his  descendants.  “ Know  of 
a surety  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a stranger  in  a land  that  is  not 
theirs,  and  shall  serve  them ; and  they  shall  afflict  them  four 
hundred  years.”  The  middle  clause  of  this  sentence,  “ and 
shall  serve  them,  and  they  shall  afflict  them,”  is  to  be  con- 
sidered parenthetical : for  the  actual  servitude  of  the  Israelites 
was  only  for  a period  of  about  eighty-six  years,  and  we  should 
therefore  read  it,  “ Know  of  a surety,  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a 
stranger  in  a land  that  is  not  theirs,  four  hundred  years.” 

“ And  also,”  continues  the  prophecy,  “ that  nation  whom  they 
serve,  will  I judge;  and  afterwards  shall  they  come  out  with 
great  substance.”  Here  was  a distinct  and  circumstantial  pre- 
diction of  the  long  sojourn  of  the  seed  of  Abram  in  a strange 
country ; of  the  bondage  to  which  they  should  in  after  times 
be  subjected  in  the  land  of  Egypt ; of  the  plagues  with  which 
the  Almighty,  when  bringing  forth  his  people  with  a high  hand, 
and  a stretched-out  arm,  should  judge  the  Egyptians  ; and  of 
the  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold,”  which  should  be 
presented  to  the  Israelites  by  their  terrified  task-masters,  by 
which  they  should  spoil  the  Egyptians,  and  come  forth  from 
the  house  of  their  captivity  “ with  great  substance.” 

The  only  point  of  difficulty  in  the  prediction,  is  the  period 
of  four  hundred  years,  since  we  are  told  in  the  12th  chapter  of 
Exodus,  that  “ the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel,  who 
dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  four  hundred  and  thirty  years.”  To 
reconcile  these  apparently  contradictory  dates,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  observe,  that  in  the  vision  of  which  we  are  speaking, 
when  the  Almighty  says,  “ Thy  seed  shall  be  a stranger  in  a 
land  that  is  not  theirs  four  hundred  years,”  the  sojourning  of 
the  seed  of  Abram  in  a foreign  land  is  dated  from  the  time  of 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  from  which  event,  to  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt,  was  exactly  four  hundred  and  five,  or  in  round  numbers, 
four  hundred  years.  While  in  Exodus,  the  sojourning  of  the 
Israelites  is  dated  from  the  arrival  of  Abram  himself  in  Canaan, 

7 4 


74 


A n R A II  A IVI. 


which  was  Iwenty-five  years  earlier,  and  thus  both  these  con- 
flicting dates  are  perfectly  reconcilable  to  the  same  event. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  completely  we  are  enabled, 
by  the  light  of  inspiration,  to  trace  the  employments  of  Abram 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  important  day  of  the  events  of 
which  we  are  speaking.  It  was  in  the  early  dawn  of  this  day, 
that  God  led  the  patriarch  to  the  door  of  the  tent,  before  sun- 
rise, and  pointed  out  to  him  the  innumerable  stars  shining  in 
the  firmament.  It  was  in  the  succeeding  part  of  the  day,  that 
the  animals  were  killed  and  prepared  as  God  had  commanded ; 
it  was  when  the  sun  was  going  down,  that  a deep  sleep  fell 
upon  Abram,  in  which  he  heard  the  prediction  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking;  and  again,  it  was  when  the  sun  went 
down,  and  it  was  dark,  that  the  sign  he  had  requested  was 
vouchsafed. 

What  a day  was  this ! How  do  the  constant  intercourse 
and  daily  walking  of  the  patriarchs  with  God,  put  to  shame  all 
our  feeble  and  momentary  commimings  with  him  ! We  can 
hardly  believe  that  ours  is  the  same  God,  and  that  we  are  bound 
to  Him  by  ties  as  close,  and  by  relationship  as  endearing,  as 
these  holy  men  of  old.  Well  may  the  hourly  aspirations  of 
our  souls  for  ever  be,  “ O for  a closer  walk  with  God  !” 

But  we  must  hasten  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  sign 
which  the  Almighty  had  promised  Abram,  and  which  was  no 
longer  withheld.  'Fhe  following  is  the  remarkable  description 
given  by  the  pen  of  inspiration  ; And  it  came  to  pass,  that 
when  the  sun  went  down  and  it  was  dark,  behold  a smoking 
furnace,  and  a burning  lamp  passed  between  those  pieces”  of 
the  creatures  which  Abram,  at  God’s  command,  had  killed 
and  divided.  You  who  are  acquainted  with  the  customs  of 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  will  see  in  this  something  more  than 
a mere  unmeaning  sign ; you  will  recollect  that  the  usual  cere- 
monial in  important  national  covenants,  of  which  we  have 
some  very  remarkable  instances  in  ancient  lore,  was  to  divide 
an  animal  into  two  or  more  parts  ; the  persons  covenanting 
passed  between  these  parts  ; intimating  that  should  they  break 


LECTURE  VII. 


75 


the  covenant,  they  should  deserve  to  be  cut  asunder,  and 
divided  limb  from  limb,  as  the  animal  was,  between  whose 
mangled  remains  they  were  passing. 

The  smoking  furnace  which  passed  between  the  pieces  is 
usually  considered  as  an  emblem  of  the  dark  furnace  of  trouble, 
afiliction,  and  bondage,  which  the  Israelites  endured  in  Egypt, 
to  which  reference  is  so  peculiarly  made  in  the  fourth  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy,  where  it  is  said,  “ The  Lord  hath  brought 
you  forth  out  of  the  iron  furnace,  even  Egypt while  the 
burning  lamp  which  followed  the  smoking  furnace,  symbolized 
the  shekinah,  or  glorious  majesty  of  God,  which  should  be 
with  the  Israelites  in  their  great  deliverance  from  the  house  of 
bondage,  when  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  their  salvation  went 
forth  “ as  a lamp  that  burneth.”  The  Almighty  thus,  under 
the  symbol  of  the  smoking  “ furnace”  and  “ burning  lamp,” 
passing  between  the  pieces,  not  only  gave  to  Abram  the 
requested  sign,  but  as  we  are  told  in  the  following  verses, 
corroborated  his  promise,  by  thus  making  a covenant  with 
Abram,  that  He,  the  Almighty,  would  not  desert  the  progeny 
of  Abram  in  their  day  of  trial,  but  that  he  would  accompany 
them  in  all  their  wanderings,  and  finally  establish  them  in  the 
promised  land. 

The  land  of  Canaan  therefore  was  given  and  solemnly  made 
over;  but  the  actual  possession  of  it  was  withheld  for  four 
generations.  The  reason  afforded  by  God  for  this  postponement 
of  the  promised  inheritance,  is  a very  remakable  one.  “ In 
the  fourth  generation,  they  shall  come  hither  again,  for  the 
iniquity  of  the  Amorites  is  not  yet  full.”  Although,  therefore, 
the  land  of  Canaan  was,  as  we  have  seen,  made  over  by  solemn 
covenant  to  the  seed  of  Abram,  the  justice  of  God  would  not 
consent  to  their  taking  possession,  until  the  guilt  of  the  present 
inhabitants  should  cry  aloud  for  that  punishment  with  which 
they  were  afterwards  so  fearfully  visited.  When  this  period 
should  arrive,  the  Israehtes  were  to  enter  in  and  take  possession, 
‘‘  utterly  to  destroy  all  that  they  had,  and  to  spare  them  not,  but 


76 


ABRAHAM. 


to  sla>  both  man  and  woman,  infant  and  suckling,  ox  and  sheep, 
camel  and  ass.” 

Surely  the  effects  of  a sentence  so  fearfully  severe,  and  yet 
so  unquestionably  just,  could  never  have  been  intended  to  pass 
away  with  the  guilty  generation  which  it  swept  into  perdition. 
Does  it  not  cry  with  a warning  voice  at  the  present  day,  and 
at  the  present  hour,  to  every  nation  under  heaven  ? Does  it 
not  speak  with  a peculiar  emphasis  to  ourselves,  my  brethren, 
as  the  inhabitants  of  a country  which  has  most  guiltily  sinned, 
and  yet  for  a long  series  of  years  most  abundantly  prospered  ? 
The  iniquity  of  the  Amorites  was  long,  very  long,  nearly  four 
hundred  years  in  filling  up,  for  that  period  elapsed  before  the 
Israelites  came  into  possession,  but  fill  it  eventually  did,  and  the 
moment  it  had  so  filled,  the  justice  of  God  was  manifested  in 
their  total  extirpation.  T urn  not  a deafened  ear,  or  a hardened 
heart,  I beseech  you,  to  so  solemn  a warning.  Are  there  no 
events  passing  around  you  to  lead  you  to  fear  that  the  iniquity 
of  our  own  nation  may  also  be  filling  up  ? that  our  day  of  trial 
may  be  approaching  ? that  the  mercies  so  abundantly  received, 
so  little  acknowledged,  so  long  abused,  may,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Amorites,  be  cancelling  our  title-deeds,  and  preparing  the 
way  for  the  new  possessors  ? and  that  yet  a little  while,  and  a 
perfectly  just  and  a holy  God  will  be  compelled  to  say,  “ The 
iniquity  of  the  people  of  England  is  now  full  ?” 

It  is  for  you,  my  brethren,  and  for  myself,  under  the  divine 
grace  and  guidance,  yet  to  endeavour  to  postpone  that  sentence  ; 
the  sins  of  every  nation  must  be  made  up  of  the  sins  of  the 
individual  members  of  that  nation  ; every  humble,  holy,  prayer- 
ful follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  servant  of  our  God, 
however  low  his  rank,  however  small  his  means,  however 
weak  his  attainments,  is  keeping  back  the  day  of  solemn  and 
certain  visitation.  I do  not  scruple  to  assert,  because  from  my 
heart  I believe  it  to  be  true,  since  all  revelation  leaches  and  all 
history  confirms  it,  that  the  essentially  Christian  part  of  the 
community,  the  men  and  the  women,  and  the  children  who 


LECTURE  VII. 


77 


fear  to  offend  God,  and  who  love  his  cominandiiients,  who  are 
found  in  his  temples  and  at  his  altar  in  public,  and  upon  their 
knees  in  private,  are  the  salt  which  has  kept,  and  is  at  this 
moment  keeping — God  only  knows  how  long  they  will  be 
permitted  to  keep  us — from  those  trials  which  may  be  approach- 
ing. It  is  not  the  wisdom  of  our  statesmen,  it  is  not  the  courage 
of  our  soldiers,  it  is  not  whether  one  party  or  another  hold  die 
helm  of  government,  which  can  preserve  us  from  the  day  of 
visitation : it  is  ins tru mentally  to  be  done  by  the  prayers  and 
die  lives,  and  the  devoted  and  consistent  piety  of  the  people  of 
God. 

You  then  who  love  your  country,  and  who  love  your  owui 
little  ones,  who  are  entering  upon  life  at  a most  awful  period, 
think  how  powerful  an  additional  motive  you  have  here  for  an 
increase  of  faith,  and  holiness,  and  self-denial,  and  obedience. 
Our  iniquity  is  not  yet  full,  but  remember  that  when  the  waters 
are  at  the  brim,  one  drop  will  make  them  overflow.  The  eye 
of  the  Lord  is  even  now  upon  this  guilty  country  and  upon  its 
guilty  inhabitants  ; the  sword  of  the  Lord  is  even  now  uplifted 
to  strike  ; “ offences  must  needs  come,  but  wo  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  offence  cometh:”  wo  to  those  who  assist  in  filling 
up  the  rapidly  rising  measure.  Be  not  content,  in  times  like 
these,  even  with  mere  personal  holiness  : use  your  efforts  with 
all  over  whom  you  possess  the  slightest  control ; urge  them  to 
a greater  devotedness  to  God,  and  to  a quiet,  peaceable  demean- 
our, to  habits  of  order,  and  obedience  to  “ the  powers  that  be.” 
At  such  a time  every  one  will  be  a faithful  servant  to  his 
earthly  king,  who  is  a true  believer  in  the  King  of  kings. 
“ Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  be  much  in  prayer,  bo  ill 
in  your  families  and  in  secret,  that  a God  of  wisdom  may  direct 
the  councils  of  our  rulers  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of 
our  country  at  this  peculiarly  trying  and  difficult  crisis.  The 
evil  day  may  still  be  averted  ; tlie  gathering  tempest  which  even 
now  darkens  and  lowers  in  the  distance,  may  yet  be  dispersed  ; 
devotedness  of  heart,  and  soul,  and  life  to  God,  will  yet  be 
accepted,  prayer  will  yet  be  heard ; the  hand  of  the  Lord,  tlie 


78 


A B R A H A M. 


providence  of  tlie  Lord,  and  the  day  of  the  Lord,  may  yet  be 
more  publicly  acknowledged  by  us  than  they  have  been,  and 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  instead  of  our  own  glory,  may  be  made 
the  more  frequent  subject  of  our  boast. 

But  time  is  hastening  on,  the  judgments  of  God  are  abroad, 
our  condemnation  slumberelh  not ; the  smoking  furnace,  the 
symbol  of  national  trial  and  national  suffering,  as  in  the  vision 
of  Abram,  may  be  already  kindled  in  our  land  : if  it  be,  my 
Christian  brethren,  if  no  prayers,  no  efforts  shall  avail  to  post- 
pone its  approach,  let  us  tlien  only  supplicate  our  God  that  the 
burning  lamp  may,  as  of  old,  accompany  it ; that  the  divine 
presence  may  not  forsake  his  children  ; that  “ one  like  unto  tlie 
Son  of  God”  may  be  with  us  in  the  furnace,  tempering  its 
heat,  shortening  its  duration,  sanctifying  its  fires  ; that  thus,  as 
a nation  and  as  individuals,  we  may  come  out  of  the  furnace 
chastened,  purified,  but  not  consumed  ; our  dross  purged  away, 
and  every  Christian  grace  and  every  holy  affection  shining 
more  and  more  brightly  to  the  glory  of  God  our  Saviour. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

Genesis  xviii.  1. 

‘‘  And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  the  plains  of  Mamre.” 

After  the  remarkable  vision  which  formed  the  subject  of 
the  last  discourse,  we  are  informed  by  the  inspired  historian, 
that  Sarai,  Abram’s  wife,  growing  impatient  for  the  long-post- 
poned, though  promised  seed,  prevailed  upon  Abram  to  unite 
himself,  in  a secondary  marriage,  to  Hagar,  Sana’s  handmaid. 
This  was  doubtless  the  effect  of  sinful  impatience  on  the  part 
of  Sarai,  and  was  agreed  to  with  what  cannot  be  considered  as 
an  innocent  acquiescence  upon  the  part  of  Abram.  Like  most 
other  sinful  compliances,  this  act  of  the  patriarch  was  succeeded 
by  vexation  and  punishment.  Insolence  and  contempt  soon 


LECTURE  VIII. 


79 


took  possession  of  the  handmaid:  jealousy  and  discontent 
assailed  her  mistress  ; while,  for  nearly  fourteen  years,  all  per- 
sonal manifestations  of  the  Almighty  to  his  faithful,  but  in  tliis 
instance  erring,  servant  were  suspended.  We  do  not  mean  to 
assert  that  the  long  intermission  of  the  delightful  manifestations 
with  which  Abram  was  favoured  by  the  great  Jehovah,  was 
intended  as  the  punishment  of  this  offence ; but  it  appears 
neither  unscriptural  nor  unreasonable  to  conclude  that  it  was 
so,  when  we  remember  how  often,  in  all  ages,  similar  conduct 
has  been  followed  by  similar  results,  and  men’s  “ sins  have 
separated  between  them  and  their  God,  and  hid  as  it  were  hits 
face  from  them.” 

My  brethren,  do  you  ever  complain  that  in  your  own  case, 
communion  with  the  Most  High  is  more  than  usually  difficult; 
that  it  is  not  with  you  as  in  times  past : that  your  intercourse 
with  Heaven  is  impeded ; that  (as  the  apostle  expresses  it) 
your  prayers  are  “ hindered that  your  very  praises  appear 
to  have  lost  their  wings,  and  to  be  unable  to  rise  through  the 
clouded  atmosphere  which  surrounds  you  ? This  is  a state  of 
mind  not  absolutely  unknown,  we  believe,  to  any  among  the 
children  of  God ; when  meditation  becomes  irksome,  prayer 
wearisome,  and  all  intercourse  with  heaven  cold,  dead,  and 
unprofitable  : it  is,  we  believe,  consonant  with  the  painful 
experience  of  most  Christians,  when  we  say  that  such  feelings 
are  neither  unknown  nor  unfrequent ; when  the  spiritual  life 
is  so  deadened  within  us,  that  the  slightest  heavenward  motion 
is  an  effort,  and  real  inward  communion  so  little  felt  and  en- 
joyed, that  we  are  almost  tempted  by  our  spiritual  enemy  to 
forego  the  mockery  of  the  external  form.  This  is  usually 
termed  the  hidings  of  God’s  face,  and  too  often  and  too  hastily 
attributed  to  the  mere  sovereignty  of  God,  while  a little  careful 
self-examination  would  frequently  enable  us  to  discover  that 
the  cause  is  not  in  God,  but  in  ourselves;  that  if  the  gracious 
visitings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  soul  of  the  believer  have 
been  intermitted  ; if  the  promise  of  our  divine  Master,  “ Wa 
will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him,”  appear  \% 


80 


ABRAHAM. 


remain  unfulfilled,  some  secret  sin,  some  unrestrained  temper, 
some  unholy  compliance,  some  unchecked  and  unchastened 
desire,  like  the  Achan  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  is  suffered  to  be 
undetected  in  the  heart,  and  to  rob  us  of  the  promised  blessing. 

While  it  is  thus  in  judgment,  it  is  also  in  mercy,  in  great 
and  distinguishing  mercy,  that,  under  circumstances  such  as 
these,  the  Lord  withdraws  himself  from  us  for  a season.  If 
we  suffered  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds.  He  would  withdraw 
himself  from  us,  not  for  a season,  but  for  ever.  How  infinitely 
then  does  our  gracious  Redeemer  magnify  his  love  to  you,  if 
you  are  a child  of  God,  when  in  the  very  act  of  chastening ! 
He  well  knows,  that  although  while  He  was  with  you,  you  far 
too  little  estimated  his  presence,  yet  if  you  have  once  truly 
experienced  his  love,  you  will  never  be  happy,  never  be  at 
peace,  under  a conviction  of  his  absence.  It  is  therefore  by 
this  temporary  withdrawal  that  He  teaches  you  to  “examine 
yourselves  whether  ye  be  in  the  faith,”  to  “judge  yourselves 
that  ye  be  not  judged  of  the  Lord,”  and,  above  all  to  look  and 
long  and  pray  for  his  return.  It  is  thus  that  He  produces 
those  exercises  of  faith  and  love  so  often  referred  to  by  the 
church  of  old,  when  she  says,  “ By  night  on  my  bed  I sought 
Him  whom  my  soul  loveth  ; I sought  Him,  but  I found  Him 
not ;” — those  mourning  exercises,  tlie  most  painful,  but  perhaps 
amongst  the  most  profitable  of  the  Christian  life,  which,  while 
sorrow  and  wo  occupy  the  heart  and  compel  you  to  “ sow  in 
tears,”  enable  you,  in  the  issue,  by  the  return  of  the  light  of 
God’s  countenance,  to  “ reap  in  joy.” 

After  fourteen  years  had  elapsed,  during  which,  as  we  have 
observed,  x\bram  had  been  debarred  from  all  extraordinary 
communings  with  the  Most  High,  we  find  the  Almighty  again 
appearing  to  him,  urging  him  to  a more  perfect  walk  with  God : 
“ I am  the  Almighty  God  ; walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect ;” 
repeating  the  assurances  of  the  unalterable  nature  of  the  cove- 
nant which  he  had  made  with  him,  and  instituting  the  rite  of 
circumcision,  that  “ sign,”  or  “ seal,”  as  the  apostle  to  the 
Romans  expresses  it,  “ of  the  faith  which  he  had,  yet  being 


LECTURE  VIII. 


81 


uncircumcised,”  and  by  which  alone  he  had  long  before  been 
justified,  “ not  in  circumcision,  but  in  uncircumcision.” 

It  was  at  this  period  of  the  patriarch’s  history  that  the 
Almighty  made  that  remarkable  change  in  the  name  both  of 
Abram  and  his  wife,  which  should  convey  to  their  remote 
posterity  the  remembrance  of  the  honour  which  they  had  re- 
ceived from  the  Lord.  “ Neither  shall  thy  name  any  more  be 
called  Abram,  (a  high  father,)  but  thy  name  shall  be  called 
Abraham,  (the  father  of  a numerous  progeny  ;)  for  a father  of 
many  nations  have  I made  thee.”  “And  as  for  Sarai  thy 
wife,  thou  shalt  not  call  her  name  Sarai,  (my  princess,)  but 
Sarah  (a  princess,)  shall  her  name  be.”  “ She  shall  be  a 
mother  of  nations,  kings  of  people  shall  be  of  her.”  This  was 
the  manner  in  which  the  Almighty,  from  of  old,  distinguished 
those  whom  the  Lord  delighted  to  honour.  This  is  the  manner 
in  which  the  kings  of  the  earth  have  in  all  ages,  by  titles  of 
distinction  and  names  of  renown,  adorned  their  favourites  and 
elevated  them  above  their  fellows.  And  this  is  still  the  manner, 
— but  O ! how  infinitely  superior  in  its  results,  how  far  more 
blessed  in  its  imperishable  consequences  ! — that  our  King,  the 
King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords,  has  promised  to  designate 
his  covenanting  people  ; by  giving  them,  as  St.  John  declares, 
“ a new  name  which  no  man  knoweth,  saving  he  that  receiveth 
it.”  Do  you  inquire  what  that  new  name  may  be  ? — it  is  the 
new  name  of  adoption,  even  “ the  child  of  God.”  This  is  the 
name  which  in  the  ear  and  heart  of  the  believer  supersedes 
every  other  name ; which  marks  at  once  his  separation  from 
the  family  of  the  first  Adam,  in  which  he  was  born  by  nature, 
and  his  complete  and  joyful  reception  into  the  family  of  the 
second  Adam,  into  which  he  has  been  brought  by  grace.  This 
is  indeed  a title  worthy  of  all  your  efforts,  all  your  prayers ; a 
title  conferred  upon  the  meanest  and  lowest  believers,  freely 
offered  to  the  poorest  of  you  whom  I now  address,  and  yet 
without  which  the  wealthiest  and  most  distinguished  among 
you  can  never  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Examine  then,  earnestly  and  prayerfully,  my  brethren,  each 


82 


ABRAHAM. 


for  yourself,  whether  this  change  of  name,  the  necessary  and 
inseparable  accompaniment  of  change  of  heart,  has  passed  upon 
you  ; whether  you  are  one  of  the  sheep  belonging  to  ihe  fold 
of  the  good  Shepherd,  of  whom  it  is  said,  “ He  knoweih  his 
shfeep  by  name  whether,  in  the  language  of  the  Psalmist, 
when  God  writeth  up  his  people,”  He  can  say  of  you,  “ This 
man  was  born  in  Zion.”  “ None  knoweth  it  saving  he  that 
receiveth  it,”  saith  our  Lord  : none  can  know  it,  none  can  feel 
and  enjoy  it,  but  you  who  have  been  made  the  blessed  subjects 
of  that  renovating  change  to  which  it  applies  ; to  all  others  it 
is  incomprehensible,  unintelligible — in  the  language  of  the  world, 
mysticism,  and  enthusiasm.  To  you  it  is  the  never-ceasing 
testimony  to  the  power  of  God  and  the  love  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  “ the  promise  of  the  life  which  now' is,  and  of  that  which 
is  to  come,”  written  as  with  a sunbeam  upon  your  heart ; for 
if  a child  of  God,  then  an  heir,  an  heir  of  God  and  joint-heir 
with  Christ,  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away.  O slight  not  this  glorious  distinction!  do 
not  value  lightly  a name  and  a privilege  which  the  eternal  Son 
of  God  left  the  bosom  of  his  Father  to  purchase  for  you,  which 
the  eternal  Spirit  of  God  esteems  it  his  highest  prerogative  to 
ratify  and  to  apply ; without  which  the  eternal  Jehovah  can 
never  be  to  you  a Father,  or  you  become  his  “ sons  and  daugh- 
ters, saith  the  Lord  God  Almighty.” 

No  sooner  had  Abraham  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
“ Sarah  shall  be  a mother  of  nations,  kings  of  people  shall  be  of 
her,”  than  we  are  told,  “ that  he  fell  upon  his  face  and  laughed,” 
We  are  not  for  a moment  to  imagine  that  Abram’s  laughter 
was  the  effect  of  doubt  or  mistrust,  for  we  are  expressly  told, 
in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  that  “ he  staggered  not  at  the 
promise  through  unbelief,  but  was  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory 
to  God,  and  being  fully  persuaded  that  what  He  had  promised 
He  was  able  also  to  perform.”  When  therefore  he  fell  upon 
his  face  and  laughed,  he  prostrated  himself,  a token  of  reverence 
for  the  divine  Being  who  spake  to  him  ; and  he  laughed,  or 
exulted  greatly,  an  evidence  of  his  certainly  of  the  promts# 


LECTURE  VIII. 


83 


which  was  made  him.  How  remarkable  a demonstration  of 
that  faith  which  is  “ the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen  !”  How  strong  an  expression  of 
that  which  was  still  future,  was  still  to  the  eye  of  sense  un- 
certain and  improbable ! And  yet,  my  brethren,  is  it  not  thus 
that  the  true  and  established  believer  learns,  even  upon  earth, 
not  only  to  believe  and  trust,  but  to  exult  in  the  prospect  of 
heaven,  and  to  rest  upon  the  promises  of  God  with  a certainty 
of  hope  and  a fulness  of  joy,  which  to  the  doubting  Christian 
are  utterly  unknown  ! Strive  earnestly  to  realize  something 
of  this  delightful  yet  humble  confidence  in  your  own  experi- 
ence ; endeavour  to  rest  with  the  simplicity  of  an  assured  and 
scriptural  faith  upon  all  the  declarations  of  God,  and  you  will 
not  only  be  enabled  to  rejoice  in  the  certainty  of  the  glory 
which  shall  be  revealed  in  you,  but  in  the  certainty  of  every 
present  help,  of  grace  and  strength  and  guidance  on  the  way 
which  leads  to  it;  “ for,”  says  the  apostle,  “ all  the  promises 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  (of  the  means  as  well  as  the  end,)  are 
yea  and  (in  Him)  amen  unto  the  glory  of  God  by  us.” 

Three*  months  only  had  elapsed  after  the  rite  of  circumcision 
had  been  instituted,  and  the  change  of  Abram’s  name  had  taken 
place,  when  a manifestation  of  the  Almighty,  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  was  vouchsafed.  It 
is  thus  narrated  in  the  simple  and  beautiful  language  of  the  in- 
spired historian  ; “ The  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram  in  the 
plains  of  Mamre  : and  he  sat  in  the  tent-door  in  the  heat  of  the 
day  ; and  he  lift  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo,  three  men 
stood  by  him  ; and  when  he  saw  them,  he  ran  to  meet  them 
from  the  tent-door,  and  bowed  himself  toward  the  ground,  and 
said,  My  Lord,  if  now  I have  found  favour  in  thy  sight,  pass 
not  away,  I pray  thee,  from  thy  servant ; let  a little  water,  I 
p ay  you,  be  fetched,  and  wash  your  feet,  and  rest  yourselves 
under  the  tree ; and  I will  fetch  a morsel  of  bread,  and  com- 
fort ye  your  hearts  : after  that  ye  shall  pass  on  ; for  therefore 
aie  ye  come  to  your  servant.  And  they  said,  So,  do  as  thou 
• Dr.  Lightfoot. 


84 


ABRAHAM. 


hast  said.”  The  three  personages  here  spoken  of  have  been 
considered  by  many  to  have  been  only  three  created  angels, 
sent  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  ; but  this  can  scarcely  be 
the  case,  when  we  find  their  appearance  spoken  of  in  the  text 
as  an  appearance  of  “ the  Lord,”  and  again,  one  of  them  ex- 
pressly called  “ the  Lord”  in  the  thirteenth  verse,  and  speaking, 
in  the  following  verses,  in  language  which  no  created  being 
would,  surely,  venture  to  assume.  Some  commentators  think 
that  as  the  narrative  commences  by  saying,  “ The  Lord  appeared 
unto  Abraham,”  and  as  Abraham  addresses  the  three  together 
under  the  appellation  of  “ my  Lord,”  it  was  probably  a mani- 
festation of  the  three  persons  of  the  holy  Trinity.  This 
opinion,  however,  appears  very  contrary  to  the  general  tenor 
of  Scripture,  in  which  we  find  no  instance  upon  record  of  the 
Father  or  the  Holy  Ghost  ever  assuming  the  human  form  ; 
while,  again,  in  the  latter  part  of  die  story,  when  the  two  angels 
had  left  the  third  with  Abraham,  and  had  gone  on  to  Sodom, 
they  say,  “ The  Lord  hath  sent  us  to  destroy  this  city.”  I 
allude  to  this  because  some  authority  has  been  improperly 
attached  to  this  misapprehension,  from  the  circumstance  of  our 
church  selecting  this  portion  of  holy  writ  as  one  of  the  lessons 
for  Trinity  Sunday.  We  should  imagine  that  her  intention 
was  not  to  adduce  this  as  a proof  of  the  trinity  of  the  persons, 
but  of  the  plurality  of  the  persons  in  the  Godhead  : one  of  the 
persons  of  the  blessed  Trinity  being  here  evidently  present 
upon  the  earth,  while  the  eternal  Father,  “ whom  none  hath 
seen  nor  can  see,  was  dwelling  in  the  light  which  no  man  may 
approach  unto.” 

It  was  during  the  plain  repast  of  the  angels,  beneath  the  wide- 
spreading  branches  of  the  over-shadowing  tree,  while  Abraham 
with  the  simple  manners  of  that  early  age,  stood  by  them  him- 
self ^t  once  their  servant  and  their  host,  that  the  first  of  these 
remarkable  personages  thus  addressed  him  : “ Where  is  Sarah, 
ihy  wife  ? and  he  said.  Behold,  in  the  tent.  And  he  said,  I 
will  certainly  return  unto  thee  according  to  the  time  of  life ; 
and  lo,  Sarah  thy  wife  shall  have  a son.  And  Sarah  heard  kiaa 


LECTURE  Vin. 


85 


in  the  tent-door,  which  was  behind  him,  and  laughed  witliin 
herself.”  This  action  of  Sarah  was  precisely  similar,  in  its 
external  appearance,  to  that  of  Abraham,  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken,  and  yet  how  widely  different  in  its  motives 
and  intention.  While  he  laughed  from  the  exulting  feeling  of  an 
unhesitating  faith,  she,  on  the  contrary,  laughed  in  all  the  incre- 
dulity of  a doubting  mind.  “ They  did  not  more  agree  in  their 
desire,”  says  Bishop  Hall,  “ than  differ  in  their  affection  : Abra- 
ham laughed  for  joy,  Sarah  for  distrust;  Abraham  laughed 
because  he  believed  it  would  be  so,  Sarah  because  she  believed  it 
could  not  be  so.”  “And  the  Lord  said  unto  Abraham,  Wherefore 
did  Sarah  laugh,  saying.  Shall  1 of  a surety  bear  a child,  which  am 
old  ? Is  any  thing  too  hard  for  the  Lord  ? Then  Sarah  denied,  say- 
ing, I laughed  not,  for  she  was  afraid.”  Thus  adding  to  the  sin  by 
the  cowardly  concealment  and  the  guilty  falsehood,  and  receiving 
the  merited  reproof  of  the  Most  High,  “ Nay,  but  thou  didst 
laugh,”  at  the  very  moment  when,  if  her  faith  had  been  stronger, 
she  might  have  been  enjoying,  with  unmingled  feelings  of  happi- 
ness, her  greatest  earthly  blessing. 

Beware,  my  brethren,  from  her  example,  I most  solemnly 
charge  you,  beware  of  every  thought,  every  publication,  every 
person  that  would  teach  you  to  receive  even  the  minutest  por- 
tion of  the  revelation  of  God  with  the  feeling  of  incredulity,  or 
the  smile  of  ridicule.  The  protection  of  the  most  crowded 
assembly,  the  secrecy  of  the  most  private  retirement,  will  alike 
be  unavailing  to  shield  you  from  the  eye  of  Him  from  whom 
no  secrets  are  hid.  Sarah  laughed  behind  the  door  of  the  tent, 
where  no  human  eye  could  witness  it,  and  yet  the  Lord  saw 
it : be  careful  that  he  never  sees  on  your  countenance  the  smile 
of  distrust,  the  sneer  of  derision  at  his  promises,  his  precepts, 
his  people.  How  common  a sin  is  this  at  the  present  day,  how 
injurious  to  the  cause  of  God,  how  little  is  it  thought  of  now 
by  those  who  are  guilty  of  it,  how  unceasingly  will  it  be 
remembered  by  them  in  eternity  ! The  profane  joke,  the  con- 
temptuous appellation,  the  sneer  of  imaginary  superiority,  the 
open  ridicule,  the  mockery  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High, 

8 


80 


A R R A II  A M. 


Ilow  will  the  eternal  echo  of  that  laughter  chill  the  heart  and 
appal  the  soul  on  that  great  and  coming  day  when  every  excuse 
will  be  unavailing,  every  denial  vain ; “ Nay,  but  thou  didst 
LAUGH,”  will  carry  a pang  to  the  scomer’s  soul,  which  eternity 
itself  will  not  enable  him  to  forget,  “ Nay,  but  thou  didst 
LAUGH,”  will  continue  to  sound  in  his  ears,  and  to  oppress  his 
spirit,  when  he  and  laughter  shall  have  long  been  strangers, 
and  when  tears,  and  sighing,  and  mourning,  and  wo,  have  been 
his  unchanged,  and  shall  be  his  unchangeable  portion ; for  of 
all  laughter  such  as  this,  the  word  of  God  has  pronounced  the 
termination  and  the  fate,  “ The  end  of  that  mirth  is  heaviness 
“ Wo  unto  you  that  laugh  now,  for  you  shall  mourn  and  weep.” 


LECTURE  IX, 

Genesis  xviii.  19. 

For  I know  him,  that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord.’’ 

The  inspired  historian  having  recorded  the  instance  of 
Sarah’s  incredulity,  with  which  the  last  lecture  concluded,  thus 
continues  the  narrative  : “ And  the  men  rose  up  from  thence, 
and  looked  towards  Sodom : and  Abraham  went  with  them  to 
bring  them  on  the  way.  And  the  Lord  said,”  even  the  angel 
Jehovah,  who  was  one  of  the  three,  “ Shall  I hide  from  Abra- 
ham that  thing  which  I do ; seeing  that  Abraham  shall  surely 
become  a great  and  mighty  nation,  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him  ? For  I know  him  that,  he  will 
command  his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  and  they 
shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment ; 
that  the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath 
spoken  of  him.” 

How  remarkable  is  the  reason  here  alleged  by  the  Almighly 
for  communicating  his  intentions  to  the  faithful  patriarch  ! “ I 


LECTURE  IX 


87 


know  him,  that  ne  will  command  his  children  and  his  house- 
hold after  him,  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord.”  Abra- 
ham’s family  religion,  therefore,  his  determination  to  honour 
God  himself,  and  to  see  that  his  children  and  servants  also 
honoured  the  Lord,  is  given  as  the  reason  for  his  being  made 
acquainted  with  the  intentions  of  the  Most  High. 

My  brethren,  let  me  urge  you  seriously  to  inquire,  whether 
you  have  ever  sufficiently  considered  the  obligations  of  this 
great  duty  for  which  the  patriarch  was  so  highly  honoured  ? 
Are  you  equally  zealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  in  your 
families  and  in  your  households  ? In  what  manner  are  you 
educating,  or  permitting  others  to  educate,  your  children  ? 
Are  you  satisfied  if  their  advancement  in  that  species  of  learn- 
ing which  the  world  has  agreed  to  denominate  good  education, 
be  proportionable  to  your  expectations,  although  the  one  great 
business  of  life,  the  very  purpose  for  which  they  have  been 
sent  into  existence,  has  been  neglected  ? Are  you  contented 
if  your  boys  have  learnt  a certain  number  of  languages,  and 
your  girls  a certain  number  of  accomplishments,  although  they 
may  scarcely  know  whether  they  possess  an  immortal  soul, 
or  in  what  manner  that  soul  is  to  be  prepared  for  the  never- 
ending  futurity  ? Do  you  sufficiently  bear  in  mind,  that  your 
children  are  lent  to  you  by  God,  to  be  trained  by  you  for 
God : 1 say,  lent  to  you,  for  who  shall  tell  how  speedily  these 
precious  loans  shall  be  resumed,  ho^  quickly  they  shall  be 
summoned  into  a world,  where  all  the  accomplishments  for 
which  you  now  are  willing  to  sacrifice  every  other  acquisition, 
will  be  utterly  useless ; a world  whose  unnumbered  myriads 
speak  but  one  language,  and  sing  but  one  song,  which  is  for 
ever  new,  and  will  be  for  ever  delightful,  when  all  that  is  now 
thought  worthy  of  acquirement  shall  have  passed  away  and 
been  forgotten?  How  often,  even  in  Christian  parents,  do  we 
find  the  most  lamentable  inconsistency  in  these  tilings,  the 
most  fearful  forgetfulness  of  these  great  truths  ; how  often  do  we 
see  Christian  parents  priding  themselves  the  most  upon  those 
very  qualifications  in  their  children,  which  will  one  day  only 


88 


ABRAHAM. 


Inad  them  the  deeper  into  all  the  temptations  and  follies  of  an 
ungodly  world : looking  with  gratification  chiefly  upon  their 
progress  in  those  fashionable  accomplishments,  which  will 
merely  render  them  the  readier  victims  to  the  great  enemies  of 
our  souls,  “ the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  life.”  How  few  are  there  who  possess  sufficient  faith, 
and  sufficient  courage  and  resolution,  really  to  educate  their 
children  for  God  ! To  resolve  and  to  act  upon  that  resolution, 
that  every  species  of  knowledge,  every  acquirement  should,  we 
will  not  say  be  disregarded,  for  we  are  no  advocates  for  that 
contracted  state  of  mind  and  habit  of  thought,  which  a contracted 
education  is  too  apt  to  induce  ; but  while  every  species  of 
knowledge,  and  every  useful  acquirement  should  be  cultivated, 
and  highly  cultivated,  still  to  resolve  that  all  should  be  kept  in 
complete  and  entire  subserviency  to  the  knowledge  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  and  to  the  acquirement  of  Christian 
motives,  and  Christian  principles.  To  this  great  work,  to  this 
blessed  end,  all  your  prayers,  your  efforts,  your  advice,  and 
example,  should  be  perpetually  tending.  From  their  earliest 
infancy, — and  you  may  begin  much  earlier  than  persons  in 
general  imagine,  for  a child  even  of  three  years  old  is  not  too 
young  to  commence  with,  not  too  young  to  worship  God,  and 
to  lisp  the  name  of  that  Saviour  who  thought  none  too  young 
to  come  to  his  arms,  and  to  receive  his  blessing, — from  their 
very  earliest  infancy,  therefore,  your  children  should  be  taught 
to  know  that  this  is  the  one  leading  object  of  all  your  instructions 
to  them,  of  all  your  desires  for  them.  While  we  urge  this 
upon  you,  we  would  however  acknowledge  our  convictions 
that  it  is  not  so  much  in  early  infancy  that  these  things  are 
neglected.  We  believe  that  few  mothers,  that  no  Christian 
mothers,  are  in  the  habit  of  neglecting  to  instruct  their  children, 
so  far  as  their  own  light  and  knowledge  in  spiritual  things 
enable  them. 

The  mischief  usually  commences  when  the  child  is  partially 
separated  from  the  parents.  As  a very  eminent  writer  of  the 
present  day  has  observed,  “It  is  one  of  the  evils  of  our  schools, 


LECTURE  IX. 


89 


public,  and  private,  that  the  habits  of  devotion  which  a child 
learns  at  his  mother’s  knees  are  broken,  and  the  seeds  of  early 
piety  destroyed.”*  It  is  certainly  too  often  at  our  schools, 
more  especially  our  public  schools,!  that  evil  company  and  evil 
counsels,  combined  with  an  education  which  is  far  better  quali- 
fied to  form  an  accomplished  heathen,  than  a spiritually-minded 
Christian,  obliterate  and  uproot  all  that  remains  of  maternal 
teaching,  and  infantile  instruction.  While  at  those  intervals., 
when,  as  at  the  approaching  season,  the  children  return  to  the 
parent’s  roof,  the  mother ’'s  authority  is  at  an  end,  and  instead 
of  every  effort  being  employed,  every  opportunity  anxiously 
seized  to  “ strengthen  the  things  which  remain,  and  are  ready 
to  die,”  pleasure  and  idleness,  folly  and  dissipation,  are  too 
frequently  all  that  await  them  ; so  that  the  poor  child,  through- 
out the  years  of  education,  is  living  in  a perpetual  interchange 
of  the  heathen  lessons  of  classical  lore,  and,  in  too  many  in- 
stances, the  heathen  practices  of  fashionable  society  ; and  when 
at  length  ushered  into  the  world,  who  shall  affect  astonishment, 
that  a child  so  educated  is  only  in  name  and  profession  a Chris- 
tian ? 

My  brethren,  with  every  desire,  and  at  every  expense  of 
time  and  thought,  and  precept  and  prayer,  it  is  no  easy  matter 
to  bring  up  our  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord.  Our  own  daily  life  and  conversation  must  be  in  some 
degree  conformed  to  the  rule  of  God’s  word,  before  we  can 
even  hope  to  do  so.  Children  soon  learn  to  attend  to  what 
they  see,  in  preference  to  what  they  hear  : if  these  do  not 
harmonize,  example  is  followed,  and  precept  is  disregarded. 

Consider  then  seriously,  my  brethren,  if  you  love  your 
children,  if  you  value  your  own  souls,  how  you  are  standing 


* Southey’s  Colloquies,  vol.  ii.  p.  94. 

t “ Public  Schools.” — The  Author  is  glad  to  avail  himself  of  this 
opportunity  to  acknowledge,  that  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  much 
improvement  is  taking  place  with  regard  to  religious  instruction,  at  least 
in  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  establishments — an  example  which 
he  sincerely  prays  may  be  speedily  follov/ed  by  all  others. 

8* 


90 


ABRAHAM 


before  God  in  this  particular  at  the  present  moment.  In  your 
families,  will  it  be  impossible,  on  the  great  day  of  account,  to 
plead  a parent’s  example  in  justification  of  a child’s  delinquen- 
cies ? Do  your  children  never  behold  you,  upon  frivolous  pre 
fences,  neglecting  the  service  of  this  house,  or  the  duties  of  this 
hallowed  day  of  rest  ? Have  they  never  learnt  from  your 
example  the  first  principles  of  licentiousness,  of  covetousness, 
of  intemperance,  or  of  want  of  charity  ? Will  it  be  impossible 
for  any  child  of  yours  to  say,  on  that  great  day  when  the  secrets 
of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed,  “The  first  oath,  or  the  first 
falsehood  I ever  heard,  I heard  from  the  lips  of  a parent?” 
“ The  first  time  I ever  used  profane  language,  or  spoke  slight- 
ingly of  the  things  or  the  people  of  God,  I was  not  reproved 
by  my  parents.”  “ The  first  lime  I ever  entered  those  scenes 
which  afterwards  became  my  ruin,  I entered  them  with  the 
knowledge,  and  the  sanction,  and  even  in  the  company  of  my 
parents  !” 

We  do  not  say  that  such  things  are  ; we  trust  that  in  this 
congregation  they  are  not ; but  if  they  are,  at  how  immeasura- 
ble a distance  must  such  parents  be  from  the  patriarch  before 
us  ! The  Almighty  has  recorded  it,  to  Abraham’s  everlasting 
honour,  that  he  would  not  only  advise  and  counsel  his  children 
and  household  in  the  ways  of  God,  and  accompany  these 
counsels  by  his  own  consistent  and  holy  life,  but  that  he  would 
command  as  a master,  where  he  failed  to  influence  as  a father. 
Parental  authority,  therefore,  that  by-gone  word,  must  accom- 
pany parental  prayers,  and  parental  precepts,  and  be  enforced, 
if  you  would  walk  in  the  steps,  and  inherit  the  blessedness 
of  Abraham,  God  saw  that  Eli  reasoned  and  expostulated  with 
his  children,  and  that  in  a manner  which  many  at  the  present 
day  would  consider  as  more  than  sufficiently  serious,  and  suf- 
ficiently severe,  but  God  cut  him  oft'  and  his  family  around  him, 
“ because  his  sons  made  themselves  vile,  and  he  restrained 
them  not.”  God  saw  that  the  guilt  and  usurpation  of  Adonijah 
lay  at  the  door  of  David,  his  too  fond  and  partial  parent;  for 
the  Spirit  of  God  has  recorded  this  as  the  remarkable  reason 


LECTURE  IX. 


91 


of  all  his  delinquencies,  because  “ his  father  had  not  displeased 
him  at  any  time  in  saying,  Why  hast  thou  done  so  ?”  How 
widely  different  was  the  case  of  the  holy  man  before  us  ! The 
Almighty  saw  that  Abram  would  be  guilty  of  no  such  weak- 
ness ; that  he  would  “ command  his  family  and  his  household 
after  him.”  Nothing  short  of  this,  therefore,  will  be  con- 
sidered by  God  as  fulfilling  the  duties  of  Christian  parents 
and  Christian  masters.  We  must  “ restrain”  our  children, 
we  must  “ command”  our  household  in  the  ways  of  holiness, 
and  in  the  paths  of  righteousness  ; or  if  they  perish,  we  shall 
not  be  guiltless  of  their  blood,  we  shall  not  have  delivered 
our  souls. 

Continuing  the  history  before  us,  we  are  informed  that  the 
Lord,  addressing  himself,  as  it  appears,  to  Abraham,  said, 
“ Because  the  cry  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is  great,  and 
because  their  sin  is  very  grievous,  I will  go  down  now  and  see 
whether  they  have  done  altogether  according  to  the  cry  of  it 
which  is  come  unto  me,  and  if  not  I will  know.”  We  find  the 
Almighty  here  condescending  as  He  has  often  done,  to  speak 
after  the  fashion  of  men,  to  render  the  perfect  equity  and  un- 
doubted righteousness  of  his  judicial  proceedings  as  obvious  to 
the  eye  of  reason  as  they  have  ever  been,  and  must  ever  be,  to 
the  eye  of  faith.  “ I will  go  down  and  see” — I will  thoroughly 
investigate  and  accurately  know  before  I punish.  Perhaps  also 
to  give  Abraham  more  boldness  in  interceding  for  the  guilty, 
when  he  saw  that  the  sentence  had  not  gone  forth  fully  ratified 
and  confirmed. 

Then  commences  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  human 
intercession  to  be  met  with  in  the  revealed  word  of  God,  in 
which  the  faithfulness  of  Abraham  and  his  near  access  to  a 
throne  of  grace,  the  astonishing  loving-kindness  and  forbearance 
of  the  great  Jehovah,  are  painted  in  colours  which  the  pencil 
of  uninspired  mortality  dare  not  imitate.  “ And  Abraham  drew 
near  and  said,  wilt  thou  also  destroy  the  righteous  with  the 
wicked  ? perad venture  there  be  fifty  righteous  within  the  city, 
wilt  thou  also  destroy  and  not  spare  the  place  for  the  fifty 


92 


ABRAHAM. 


righteous  that  are  therein  ? that  be  far  from  thee  : shall  not  the 
judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? And  the  Lord  said,  If  I find  in 
8odom  fifty  righteous  within  the  city,  then  I will  spare  all  the 
place  for  their  sakes.  And  Abraham  answered  and  said.  Behold 
now,  I have  taken  upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord,  which  am 
but  dust  and  ashes  : peradventure  there  shall  lack  five  of  the 
fifty  righteous,  wilt  thou  destroy  all  the  city  for  lack  of  five  ? 
And  He  said,  if  I find  there  forty  and  five,  I will  not  destroy 
it.”  Thus  did  Abraham,  still  presuming  to  plead  with  holy 
boldness,  continue  to  intercede,  and  thus  did  the  Almighty  con- 
tinue to  bestow,  until  the  number  of  the  righteous  was  reduced 
to  ten,  and  the  Lord  mercifully  declared,  “ If  ten  be  found  there, 
I will  not  destroy  it  for  ten’s  sake.” 

Having  reduced  the  number  of  the  righteous  to  this  little 
company,  Abraham  ceased  ; so  that  it  has  been  truly  said  that 
“ Abraham  was  tired  of  asking  before  God  was  tired  of  grant- 
ing.” Who  can  affirm,  that  if  Abraham  had  persevered  in  thus 
earnestly  and  faithfully  wrestling  with  God,  until  he  had  reduced 
the  number  even  to  a solitary  individual,  even  to  “just  Lot,” 
the  one  righteous  man  within  the  accursed  Sodom,  who  will 
assert  that  he  might  not  still  have  “ had  power  with  God  and 
have  prevailed?”  We  are  not  straitened  in  God;  when  we 
cease  to  ask,  it  is  because  we  are  straitened  in  ourselves. 
“ Open  thy  mouth  wide,  and  I will  fill  it,”  is  the  declaration 
of  God  himself.  Who  shall  presume  to  place  a limit  to  faithful 
persevering  prayer,  other  than  that  which  our  Lord  himself  has 
recorded,  “ Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that  will  I 
do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.” 

How  important  then  is  the  privilege,  how  urgent  the  duty  of 
intercessory  prayer  for  our  country,  our  family,  our  friends  ! 
Shall  Abraham  be  thus  fervent,  thus  anxious  in  behalf  of  a 
guilty  city,  by  whose  destruction  he  could  by  no  possibility 
have  been  injured ; and  will  you  be  silent,  or  cold,  or  indiffer- 
ent, in  behalf  of  your  native  land,  which  contains  every  thing 
you  love  and  value  her^  below  ? If  you  have  never  yet  inter- 
ceded with  God  for  the  mass  of  ignorance,  and  impiety,  and  sin, 


LECTURE  IX 


D3 


by  which  we  are  surrounded,  let  me  urge  you  to  commence  in 
earnest  this  day  ; pray  for  the  general  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  upon  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  who  disgrace 
the  Christian  name  and  dishonour  this  Christian  country. 
Pray  especially  that  those  misguided  men,  who  by  their  infidel 
harangues,  and  widely  disseminated  atheistical  publications, 
are,  we  fear,  at  the  present  time,  injuring  the  principles,  and 
jeoparding  the  souls  of  thousands,  may  be  brought  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  He  has 
sent,  before  they  have  called  down  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty 
upon  themselves  and  their  misguided  followers,  and  the  country 
whose  evil  lot  it  is  to  be  the  theatre  of  their  guilty  exertions. 

While  remembering  that  it  is  your  duty  thus  to  intercede  for 
all  who  require  your  prayers,  be  still  more  earnest  for  those 
who  have  the  closest  claims  upon  you.  Remember  at  all  times, 
more  particularly  when  drawing  near  in  faith  and  love  to  the 
table  of  your  Lord,  those  who  are  endeared  to  you  by  the  ties 
of  aflanity  and  friendship.  Intercede  especially  for  your  parents, 
the  wife  of  your  bosom,  the  children  of  your  love.  If  any  of 
these  be  still  unhappily  at  a distance  from  God,  be  earnest,  be 
unceasing  in  your  petitions  that  they  may  be  “ brought  nigh 
by  the  blood  of  the  cross.”  Abraham’s  zeal,  Abraham’s  prayer, 
although  for  a noble  purpose,  were  for  a purpose  infinitely 
inferior  to  yours  ; his  were  to  save  the  bodies  of  sinners  from 
a fiery  sepulture,  yours  to  pluck  their  immortal  souls  “ as  brands 
from  the  burning.”  Will  you  be  remiss,  can  you  be  indifferent 
in  interceding  for  such  an  object  as  this  ? Can  you  bear  even 
for  a moment  to  dwell  upon  the  thought,  that  they  whom  you 
have  loved  and  caressed  on  earth,  shall,  as  Chilling  worth 
expresses  it,  instead  of  shining  gloriously  as  the  stars  in  the 
firmament  of  God’s  love,  glare  hideously  as  the  flames  in  the 
dungeons  of  his  wrath  ? God  forbid  that  you  should  cease  to 
pray  for  them ! The  day  will  come  which  will  bring  its 
reward  with  it,  when  every  faithful  prayer  shall  be  answered, 
either  by  the  salvation  of  those  for  whom  you  have  pleaded,  or 


94 


ABRAHAM. 


hy  the  increase  of  peace  and  joy  which  it  shall  bring  when  it 
returns  into  your  own  bosom. 

While,  therefore,  you  remember  with  Abraham,  that  you 
are  but  “ dust  and  ashes,”  that  in  your  own  name,  and  in  your 
own  merits,  you  cannot  venture  to  address  yourself  to  God, 
remember  for  your  consolation  and  encouragement,  that  you 
have  a High  Priest  within  the  veil,  who  will  present  your  poor 
petitions  at  the  throne  of  his  Father ; who  will  do  more  than 
this — who  will  intercede  for  you,  and  for  the  object  of  your 
prayers,  in  a manner  that  Abraham  never  interceded  ; for  the 
intercession  of  Jesus  cannot  weary,  his  petitions  cannot  fail. 
Whether,  therefore,  you  pray  for  others,  or  for  yourself,  let  the 
eye  of  faith  be  fixed  on  Him, even  on  that  Saviour,  who  “ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  you.”  W^ho  stands  before  the 
heavenly  altar,  with  the  golden  censer  ; and  the  smoke  of  whose 
incense,  even  his  own  merits,  accompanies  the  prayers  of  the 
saints,  ascending  up  in  perpetual  intercession  before  God,  out 
of  the  angel’s  hand.  How  comforting,  how  delightful  a thought 
to  the  true  believer!  Abraham’s  intercession,  with  all  his 
fervency,  and  after  all  his  efforts,  could  only  avail  to  save  the 
devoted  cities  of  the  plain,  if  ten  righteous  men  could  have  been 
found  in  Sodom.  Our  glorious  Intercessor  has  availed  to  save 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  of  the  guilty  progeny  of  Adam, 
though  not  one  righteous  man  has  been  found  throughout  all 
their  generations.  Well  may  we  unite  with  grateful  hearts  in 
that  angelic  hymn  on  earth,  which  shall  be  the  burden  of  our 
songs  in  heaven : “ Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to 
receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and 
honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing,”  now,  henceforth,  and  for  ever. 


LECTOR  E X. 


95 


LECTURE  X. 

Genesis  xxi.  10. 

**  She  said  unto  Abraham,  Cast  out  this  bond-woman  and  her  son  ; for  the 

son  of  this  bond-woman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac.” 

“The  gifts  and  callings  of  God  are  without  repentance,” 
says  the  inspired  word  of  the  Most  High.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, assuredly  Abraham  would  never,  after  all  his  trials  and 
all  his  difficulties,  have  been  the  progenitor  of  the  promised 
seed.  He  had  before  sinned  by  equivocating  with  Pharaoh  ; 
he  now  sinned  by  equivocating  with  Abimelech ; declaring 
again  tliat  Sarah  was  his  sister,  leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that 
she  was  not  his  wife ; and  thus,  from  a base  and  cowardly  dis- 
trust of  the  divine  guardianship  and  the  divine  protection, 
exposing  her  to  the  very  danger  from  which,  by  a sinful  eva- 
sion, he  was  endeavouring  to  sliield  her.  Happy  was  it  for 
Abraham,  happy  is  it  for  ourselves,  “ that  the  Lord  is  our 
keeper  1”  There  is  not  a blessing  which  we  enjoy,  either  in 
possession  or  in  prospect,  from  the  most  common  endowment 
of  divine  Providence  to  the  richest,  and  most  glorious,  and  most 
distinguished  mercy  of  divine  grace,  which  we  could  hope  to 
retain  now,  or  to  inherit  hereafter,  if  wholly  dependent  upon  our 
own  carefulness,  or  watchfulness,  or  caution.  I say,  if  “ wholly 
dependent,”  because  he  who  presumes  to  look  to  the  Lord  to 
keep  him,  without  setting  himself  earnestly  to  strive,  and  watch, 
and  pray,  will  as  assuredly  be  disappointed,  as  the  husbandman 
who  should  look  to  the  Almighty  in  the  day  of  harvest,  after 
neglecting  to  work,  and  standing  all  the  day  idle  in  the  season 
of  seed-time. 

Guarding  the  subject  thus,  as  the  word  of  God  has  thought 
it  necessary  and  sufficient  to  guard  it,  I would  repeat,  thanks  be 
to  God,  that  his  “gifts  and  callings  are  without  repentance.” 
Even  the  spiritual  life  of  the  soul,  the  richest  gift  in  the  treasury 
of  heaven,  would  quickly  perish  from  our  grasp  beneath  the 


96 


ABRAHAM. 


united  edbrts  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  were  it  not 
for  the  faithfulness  of  Him  who  has  “ promised,  who  also  will 
do  it.”  Were  it  not  that  “ our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,” 
so  hidden  that  the  craft  of  our  spiritual  enemies  cannot  search 
it  out,  that  the  darts  of  the  wicked  one  cannot  reach  it,  our 
enjoyment  of  this  inestimable  treasure  would  indeed  be  transi- 
tory and  precarious.  Adam  himself,  in  the  midst  of  all  his 
innocency  and  all  his  happiness,  could  not  retain  the  precious 
boon,  though  he  had  but  one  tempter  and  one  temptation.  You 
have  ten  thousand  tempters  and  ten  thousand  temptations,  with 
a deceitful  and  desperately  wicked  heart  within  your  bosom 
ready  to  listen  to  and  to  love,  and  to  be  beguiled  by  them  all. 
How  then  could  you  hope  to  stand  where  he  has  fallen  ? You 
could  not  possess  the  remotest  prospect  of  success,  were  it  not 
from  the  unchangeableness  of  the  Lord,  who,  if  you  are  indeed 
among  his  followers,  has  made  you  what  you  are  : and  if  you 
earnestly  and  faithfully  seek  Him,  will  keep  you  what  you  are, 
till  time  shall  be  no  more,  and  sin,  and  temptation,  and  sorrow, 
shall  have  fled  away  for  ever.  Yes,  my  brethren,  as  it  was 
with  Abraham,  so  is  it  frequently  with  ourselves  : while  we  by 
our  carelessness,  or  guiltiness,  or  cowardice,  are  apparently 
frustrating  the  grace  of  God,  and  rendering  the  promises  of  God 
of  none  effect,  “ the  foundation  of  the  Lord  standeth  sure,  having 
this  seal.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his  ;”  and  he  is 
mercifully  preparing  a scourge  for  us,  of  our  own  procuring,  to 
drive  us  back  again  into  the  fold  from  which  we  have  so  sinfully 
and  guiltily  wandered. 

It  was  thus  that  when  even  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God,” 
so  far  forgot  his  high  calling  as  to  prevaricate  and  falsify,  the 
Almighty  subjected  him  to  be  reproved  by  one  far  less  distin-' 
guished  than  himself  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Most  High,  and 
to  be  publicly  disgraced  by  Abimelech,  before  his  assembled 
servants,  with  a reproof  which  he  was  unable  to  answer : 
“ 'rhou  hast  done  deeds  unto  me  that  ought  not  to  be  done.” 
The  Almighty,  however,  did  not  on  this  account  deprive  him 
of  the  promised  blessing : Abraham  was  reproved,  and  Abraham 


LECTURE  X. 


97 


ropeiitod,  and  received  a pardon  which  he  could  not  have 
deserved,  for  a sin  which  he  could  not  have  extenuated. 

Such  is  the  humbling  history  of  the  Christian’s  life ; love, 
mercy,  and  pardon,  on  the  part  of  God ; sin,  coldness,  and 
forgetfulness,  followed  by  a deep  and  heartfelt  sorrow,  contrition 
and  amendment,  on  the  part  of  his  people.  O that  while  God, 
for  his  dear  Son’s  sake,  thus  bears  with  us,  my  brethren  ; while 
all  his  promises  in  Christ  Jesus  stand  firmer  than  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth  on  which  we  live  ; we  may  be  daily  becom- 
ing more  sensible  of  his  love,  more  grateful  for  his  forbearance, 
more  consistently  obedient  to  his  will,  more  anxious  for  his 
salvation  ! 

A twelvemonth  had,  in  all  probability,  scarcely  elapsed,  after 
the  visit  of  the  Lord  to  Abraham,  which  was  recorded  in  our 
last  discourse,  before  the  long-expected  blessing  was  vouchsafed. 
“ For  Sarah  conceived  and  bare  Abraham  a son  in  his  old  age, 
at  the  set  time  of  which  God  had  spoken  to  him.”  Very 
profitable  it  is  to  observe  how  much  the  inspired  writers  love 
to  trace  every  particular  of  every  blessing  to  the  hands  of  Him 
who  sends  it ; in  two  short  verses,  “ the  Lord  visited  Sarah  as 
he  had  said,  the  Lord  did  unto  Sarah  as  he  had  spoken,”  “ at 
the  set  time  of  which  God  had  spoken.”  The  gift  itself,  the 
time  and  manner  of  it,  are  all  referred  to  the  merciful  Jehovah. 
How  it  sweetens  even  the  daily  and  common  mercies  of  the 
Christian,  to  be  thus  habitually  referred  to  God ! From  the 
births  of  your  children,  and  the  great  and  prominent  mercies 
and  advantages,  and  anniversaries  of  your  lives,  down  to  the 
humblest  meal,  the  bread  and  water  of  the  poorest  among  you, 
if  you  are  living  to  God,  you  will  deduce  subjects  of  praise 
and  thanksgiving,  and  grateful  memorial.  The  Almighty  has 
thought  nothing  which  can  affect  the  happiness  and  comfort  of 
his  children,  too  trifling  to  be  inserted  in  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant, fer  “ it  has  the  promise  of  the  life  which  now  is,  as  well 
as  that  which  is  to  come.”  Surely,  therefore,  you  should 
think  nothing  too  small,  nothing  too  trifling,  in  which  to  recog 
nize  his  hand,  and  for  which  to  offer  him  your  thanksgivings. 

9 


98 


ABRAHAM. 


In  due  time,  then,  as  we  have  seen,  Isaac  the  promised  son 
was  born:  “And  the  cliild  grew  and  was  weaned,  and  Abra- 
ham made  a great  feast  the  same  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned 
not  on  the  day  that  he  was  circumcised.  That  was  a religious 
ordinance,  in  which  other  duties,  far  more  important  than  enter- 
taining his  family,  were  to  be  observed.  It  remained  for  our 
days,  and  for  the  purer  dispensation  under  which  we  live,  to 
witness  a time  of  religious  duty,  one  of  the  highest  services 
and  holiest  sacraments  of  our  church,  even  the  baptisrns  of 
our  children,  converted  into  an  occasion  of  banqueting  and 
feasting.  Such  a reason  is  most  appropriate  for  collecting  our 
families  around  us  in  social  and  innocent  assembly,  and  those 
who  take  part  in  that  holy  ordinance  and  will  aid  us  with  their 
prayers : but  most  inappropriate  to  be  made  a day  of  feasting, 
and  revelry,  and  song.  The  admirable  service  of  our  church 
for  that  holy  sacrament  teaches  us  to  pray  that  “ the  child  may 
lead  the  rest  of  his  life  according  to  this  beginning  a 
prayer  which  has  often  come  with  melancholy  forebodings  to 
my  heart,  when  1 have  seen  the  assemblage  of  fashionable 
friends  and  the  preparation  for  the  evening  party  to  celebrate 
the  christening  of  some  loved  child  ; a prayer  sometimes,  alas  ! 
we  fear,  too  accurately  and  too  painfully  fulfilled  ; for  how 
often  has  our  church  been  called  to  bear  witness  to  the  melan- 
choly fact,  that  a Christian  course  thus  begun  in  all  the  frivolity 
of  worldliness  and  dissipation,  has  continued  during  “ the  rest 
of  the  life,”  a most  true  and  faithful  counterpart  of  the  manner 
iu  which  it  has  commenced,  and  has  closed  with  a sad  accom- 
plishment of  the  parent’s  thoughtless  petition,  a youth  of  folly, 
an  old  age  of  sin,  and  an  end  “ according  to  this  begin- 
ning.” 

It  was  on  this  day  of  feasting  that  another  remarkable  event 
in  Abraham’s  domestic  history  took  place.  There  was  in 
Abraham’s  house,  as  we  have  had  reason  to  observe  in  a former 
part  of  the  history,  not  only  Sarah  and  her  child,  but  Abra- 
ham’s secondary  wife,  Hagar,  and  her  son  Ishmael,  who,  if 
Isaac  was  three  years  old  when  he  was  weaned,  which  is  the 


LECTURE  X. 


99 


date  affixed  by  the  lea^ned,  was  now  in  his  seventeenth  year. 
He  had  probably  been  led  to  expect,  as  the  only  child  of  his 
father  Abraham,  that  he  should  inherit  at  least  a very  large 
portion  of  the  abundance  by  which  he  was  surrounded.  The 
birth  of  Isaac,  therefore,  must  have  given  a death-blow  to  these 
expectations  : here  was  at  once  a legitimate  heir  to  all  the 
wealth  of  Abraham,  a son  not  'of  the  bond- woman  but  of  the 
free-woman.  Ishmael,  therefore,  could  hope  but  for  a scanty 
portion  either  of  the  consideration  or  the  wealth,  to  which  the 
heir  of  so  powerful  a prince  as  Abraham  might  be  fairly 
entitled. 

The  effect  of  this  disappointment  was  not  slow  in  manifest- 
ing itself ; on  the  very  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned,  “ Sarah  saw 
the  son  of  Hagar,  the  Egyptian,  which  she  had  borne  unto 
Abraham,  mocking,”  claiming  the  birthright  and  the  inheritance, 
as  appears  from  Sarah’s  speech  to  Abraham,  and  perhaps  mock- 
ing at  the  promise  of  God  with  respect  to  Isaac,  and  despising 
him  as  the  younger  son. 

Sarah,  unable  to  bear  a sight  so  deeply  painful  to  the  feelings 
of  a parent,  and  acting  moreover,  under  the  directions  of  the 
Most  High,  said  unto  Abraham,  “ Cast  out  this  bond- woman 
and  her  son,  for  the  son  of  this  bond-woman  shall  not  be  heir 
with  my  son,  even  with  Isaac.  And  the  thing  was  very  grievous 
in  Abraham’s  sight,  because  of  his  son.”  Notwithstanding, 
being  assured  by  God  that  this  was  all  in  the  due  course  of  his 
providential  arrangements,  he  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  Sarah, 
and  sent  forth  into  “ the  waste  howling  wilderness”  the  unhappy 
mother  and  her  wayward  son. 

My  younger  brethren,  let  me  urge  you  to  mark  well  this 
incident  in  Ishmael’s  childhood.  Ishmael  was  but  a boy,  yet 
his  actions  were  observed,  and  recorded,  and  punished  by  the 
great  Jehovah.  Do  not  therefore  shelter  yourselves  under  the 
too  frequent  excuse  that  “ boys  must  be  boys  that  there  is 
one  rule  of  conduct  for  the  hey-day  of  youth,  and  another  for 
the  maturity  of  manhood.  From  the  moment  that  you  know 
the  guilt  of  an  untrue  or  an  unchaste  expression,  the  iniquity 


100 


ABRAHAM. 


of  an  oath,  the  impiety  of  profaning  the  name,  or  of  mockincj 
at  the  things  or  the  people  of  God,  from  that  moment,  be  it  at 
what  age  it  may,  you  are  as  answerable  before  God,  and  you 
will  be  as  accountable  before  the  bar  of  his  justice,  as,  “ the 
sinner  of  an  hundred  years  old.”  Let  me  urge  you,  then,  to 
the  greater  carefulness  against  those  temptations  so  peculiar  to 
your  age  and  sex  ; say  not  with  him  of  old,  “ Our  lips  are  our 
own,  who  is  Lord  over  us  ?”  but  pray  that  God  himself  may 
“ set  a watch  before  your  mouth  and  keep  the  door  of  your 
lips  and  as  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh,  that  He  may  renew  and  purify  and  “ cleanse  your 
hearts  by  the  inspiration  of  his  Holy  Spirit.” 

It  is  well  worthy  of  observation,  how  completely  the  little 
incident  before  us  exemplifies,  so  far  as  in  this  finite  state  of 
existence  and  imperfect  state  of  moral  and  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion it  is  possible  to  exemplify,  the  mysterious  dealings  of  God 
with  man  in  regard  to  the  undiscovered  future.  It  might  not 
unnaturally  be  said,  that  if  the  Almighty  had  selected  the  child 
of  promise,  even  Isaac,  for  Abraham’s  heir,  as  it  is  revealed 
that  He  had,  He  could  not  do  otherwise  than  reject  Ishmael 
from  the  expected  inheritance  : that  the  one  must  be  the  follow- 
ing consequence  of  the  other.  This  is  the  manner,  passing 
from  things  temporal  to  things  spiritual,  in  which  men  invariably 
reason  upon  the  mysteries  of  God  ; drawing  those  deductions 
which,  to  the  finite  sense  and  limited  scan  of  mortals,  are 
apparently  undeniable,  and  then  presuming  to  question  the  jus- 
tice or  the  mercy  of  the  Omnipotent.  Now  let  us  examine 
the  history  before  us,  and  see  whether  the  facts  will  bear  us  out 
in  the  reasoning.  Was  Ishmael  thus  banished  by  any  decree 
of  God,  irrespectively  of  his  own  conduct  ? Most  assuredly 
not : Ishmael  had  remained  in  Abraham’s  house,  and  might 
have  continued  to  remain  there,  for  any  influence  that  God’s 
decree  or  promise,  with  regard  to  Isaac,  would  have  possessed 
over  his  future  fortunes.  It  was  simply  because  Ishmael 
mocked  at  Isaac  ; because  “ he  that  was  born  after  the  flesh 
persecuted  him  that  was  born  after  the  Spirit  because  he 


LECTURE  X. 


101 


did  not  conduct  himself  as  a true  child  of  Abraham  ; that 
Ishmael  was  driven  from  the  comforts  and  solaces  of  home,  a 
wanderer  and  an  outcast.  Could  Ishmael  complain  that  any 
other  reason  whatever  was  the  cause  of  his  banishment  ? Could 
he  urge  any  decree  of  the  Almighty  as  the  motive  for  the  exile 
from  his  father’s  house  ? It  was  impossible.  When  he  looked 
back  from  the  burning  sands  of  the  desert  to  the  pleasant  shade 
or  his  paternal  tents,  he  could  charge  his  present  misery  to  no 
one  but  himself  and  his  own  unworthy  conduct.  He  would 
be  compelled  to  say,  “ It  is  just  strictly,  undeniably  just,  that  I 
should  forfeit  that  which  I did  not  value,  that  I should  no 
longer  dwell  with  him  whom  I mocked  and  pei*secuted,  that  I 
should  for  ever  lose  an  inheritance  of  which  I had  rendered 
myself  so  utterly  unworthy.” 

Thus  it  will  be  at  the  last  day,  my  brethren,  with  every 
impenitent  sinner.  No  single  being  of  all  that  sad  and  hopeless 
multitude  who  shall  pass  through  the  dreary  gate  into  the  regions 
of  eternal  sorrow — for  “ Wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  way, 
and  many  there  be  which  go  in  thereat” — will  be  able  to 
attribute  his  misery  and  his  condemnation  to  any  other  causes 
than  his  own  iniquity  and  sin.  While  that  “ God  is  love” 
will  echo  throughout  eternity  in  the  many  mansions  of  our 
Father’s  kingdom,  that  “ God  is  just”  will  echo  throughout 
the  same  eternity  in  the  dungeons  of  condemnation.  Every  soul 
who  enters  there,  will  be  compelled  to  admit,  I am  here  from 
my  own  stubbornness,  my  own  obduracy,  my  own  sin.  The 
promises  of  God  were  set  before  me  as  often  as  before  others ; 
the  way  of  everlasting  life  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  often  as  to 
others ; I was  urged,  entreated,  reasoned  with,  solicited  as 
affectionately  and  as  frequently  as  others  ; often,  how  often 
would  the  Saviour  of  the  world  have  gathered  me,  as  a hen 
gathers  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  I would  not  ? I 
have  “ denied  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just;”  I have  “ trodden 
under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  have  counted  the  blood  of  the 
covenant  an  unholy  thing,  and  have  done  despite  to  the  Spirit 
of  grace,”  ’ ''refore  am  I here,  and  therefore  must  I remain  here, 

9*- 


102 


ABRAHAM. 


consigned  to  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever.  How  will 
every  pang  be  strengthened,  every  arrow  of  God’s  wrath  be 
sharpened,  by  convictions  such  as  these  ! It  would  be  some 
alleviation  to  the  suffering  spirif  to  be  enabled  to  complain,  I 
am  here  from  the  cruel  decree  of  a cruel  Maker,  which  I have 
striven,  and  prayed,  and  struggled  to  avoid ; I was  from  all 
eternity  condemned  to  this  embittered  lot,  this  imprisonment  in 
everlasting  burnings.  But  even  this  solace,  if  solace  it  might 
be,  will  be  denied  the  sinner  ; his  own  soul,  and  his  own  judg- 
ment, and  his  own  voice,  must  for  ever  echo  back  the  eternal 
truth, — my  sins,  my  obstinacy,  my  impenitence,  and  these  alone, 
have  placed  me  where  I am  ! 

My  brethren,  would  you  escape  so  fearful,  so  horrible  a fate  ? 
Then  for  ever  bear  in  mind  that  the  word  of  God  has  declared, 
“ All  are  not  Israel  who  are  of  Israel,  neither  because  they  are 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham  are  they  all  children.”  Trust  to  no 
external  relationship  to  God,  but  earnestly  seek  to  ascertain 
whether  you  have  been  really  made,  by  the  power  of  divine 
grace,  the  children  of  the  promise,  even  “ the  promise  of  life 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,”  and  whether  you  can  in  all  humility, 
yet  with  all  holy  confidence,  truly  say,  “ The  life  which  I now 
live  in  the  flesh,  I live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me.”  This  is  the  real  touch- 
stone of  a religious  profession,  this  is  the  blessed  appropriation 
of  the  promises,  which  ensures  that  you  shall  “neither  be 
barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  .Tesus 
Christ,”  nor  ashamed  nor  uncertain  in  that  day  when  He  “ shall 
make  up  his  jewels.”  Rest,  therefore,  in  nothing  short  of  this  ; 
ft  is  at  the  present  moment  freely  offered  to  you,  for  whosoever 
will  may  now  partake  of  like  precious  faitlkwith  Abraham, 
may  now  be  Abraham’s  child,  and  Abraham’s  heir  ; but  the 
day  is  fast  approaching  to  each  of  us,  when  these  offers  must 
cease ; when  the  fountain  opened  on  Calvary  shall  be  sealed 
up;  when  the  voice  of  the  crier,  “Ho!  everyone  that  thirst- 
eth  1”  shall  be  quenched  in  silence  ; when  the  children  of  the 
promise  shall  enter  their  Father’s  house,  and  gather  round  their 


LECTURE  XI. 


103 


Father’s  board,  and  delight  themselves  in  their  Father’s  society, 
and  when  the  mocking  Ishmaels,  and  the  worldly  minded 
Esaus,  shall  be  shut  out  for  ever. 


LECTURE  XL 

Genesis  xxii.  8. 

“ And  Abraham  said,  My  son,  God  will  provide  himself  a lamb  for  a 
burnt-offering.” 

We  enter  this  morning  upon  the  subject  of  Abraham’s 
greatest  and  severest  trial,  the  offering  of  his  son,  his  long-pro- 
mised and  only  son  Isaac,  at  the  command  of  his  God.  May 
every  portion  of  this  affecting  and  improving  narrative  be  carried 
to  our  hearts,  that,  like  him  of  whom  we  are  about  to  speak, 
we  may  be  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  both  to  think  nothing 
too  dear,  nothing  too  valuable,  to  be  freely  resigned  at  the  desire 
of  our  heavenly  Father ; and  to  believe  that  no  circumstances 
can  be  too  dark,  none  too  difficult,  for  us  to  be  guided  by  the 
spirit,  or  delivered  by  the  providence  of  the  Lord  Jehovah. 

“ It  came  to  pass,”  says  the  inspired  writer,  “ after  these 
things,  that  God  did  tempt  Abraham.”  After  these  things  ? 
After  so  many  years  of  faithful  following,  and  such  close  and 
intimate  walking  with  God  ? Yes,  the  trials  of  the  child  of 
God  end  only  with  his  life.  Upon  first  entering  the  heaven- 
ward course,  we  are  apt  to  imagine,  a little  more  experience,  a 
little  more  grace,  and  I shall  be  out  of  reach  of  these  sins 
which  now  so  easily  beset  me.  Alas ! as  we  move  forward 
we  find  that  although  our  trials  and  our  temptations  be  changed, 
they  are  not  destroyed ; new  enemies  spring  np  around  us, 
there  are  fresh  struggles  to  be  engaged  in,  fresh  battles  to  be 
fought,  fresh  victories  to  be  won.  “ Mortify  therefore  your 
members  which  are  upon  earth,”  your  lusts,  your  passions, 
your  desires,  your  tempers : make  this  your  daily,  hourly 


104 


ABRAHAM. 


occupation,  the  occupation  from  which  you  will  find,  and  must 
desire  to  find,  no  respite  here  below  ; for  if  you  “ be  not  engaged 
in  killing  sin,  sin  will  assuredly  be  engaged  in  killing  you.” 
You  may  indeed  be  dead  with  Christ,  you  may  indeed  have 
risen  with  him,  yet  “ after  these  things”  you  will  be  just  as 
continually  exposed  to  the  power  of  temptation  as  you  were 
before.  Sin  will  still  be  endeavouring  to  bring  you  under 
bondage  to  the  power  of  the  flesh ; and  though  its  efforts  may 
be  less  conspicuous  and  its  temptations  less  gross,  as  the  stillest 
waters  are  generally  the  deepest  waters,  it  will  be  as  dangerous 
and  delusive  as  ever  ; and  you  must  be  as  prayerful,  as  watch- 
ful, as  continually  upon  your  guard,  as  vigorous  in  your  defence 
after  you  have  attained  to  the  highest  degree  of  spiritual  know- 
ledge and  spiritual  love,  as  you  were  at  the  first  trembling  steps 
which  led  you  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  It  is  true,  you  may 
now  and  then  discover  a green  spot,  and  a shady  resting-place 
in  this  wilderness  state,  but  you  will  have  scarcely  begun  to 
feel  yourselves  at  home  there,  to  “ enlarge  the  place  of  your 
tent,  to  lengthen  your  cords,  and  strengthen  your  stakes,” 
when  the  command  will  come  to  strike  your  tents  and  move 
forward,  to  meet  new  difficulties  and  trials,  until  the  desert  be 
passed  through,  and  the  celestial  city  gained  ; enemies  and 
temptations  and  sorrows  assailing  you  every  mile  of  the  weary 
journey.  If  this  appear  to  be  a depressing  picture  of  the  Chris- 
tian’s course,  we  can  not  only  say,  that  we  believe  it  to  be  a 
true  one,  but  that  though  true,  we  do  not  think  it  is  a depress- 
ing picture  ; because  the  Christian’s  confidence  does  not,  and 
must  not  flow  from  any  assurance  of  th^  absence  of  temptation, 
but  from  the  perfect  reliance  which  he  has  in  that  Saviour  who 
has  promised  to  enable  him  to  overcome : who  has  said,  “ In 
the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I 
have  overcome  the  world.”  He  who  overcame  it  in  his  own 
person,  is  daily  engaged  in  overcoming  it  in  the  person  of  every 
one,  even  of  the  weakest  and  the  frailest  of  his  believing  and 
obeying  people  ; and  not  one  of  you  whom  I now  address,  if 
you  are  believing  with  a child-like  dependence,  that  “ He  is 


LECTURE  XI. 


105 


faithful  who  has  promised,”  and  are  following  on  to  know  the 
Lord,  shall  ultimately  fall  short  of  his  great  salvation. 

“After  these  things  God  did  tempt  Abraham.”  To  the 
youthful  inquirer  here  is  an  apparent  difficulty  at  the  very 
threshold,  and  he  naturally  and  fearfully  asks,  “ If  God  become 
my  tempter,  how  can  I escape  ?”  St.  James,  however,  has 
plainly  declared  that  this  alarm  is  gi’oundless : “ Let  no  man 
say,  when  he  is  tempted,  I am  tempted  of  God,  for  God  cannot 
be  tempted  with  evil,  neither  tempteth  He  any  man ;”  “ but 
every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own 
lusts  and  enticed.”  Now  this  cannot  be  said  of  Abraham  in 
the  example  we  are  about  to  consider  ; therefore  it  is  clear  that 
in  this  acceptation  of  the  word  he  was  not  tempted ; all  then 
that  is  intended  by  the  expression  may  be  seen  from  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews,  where  we  read,  “ By  faith  Abraham,  when 
he  was  tried,  offered  up  Isaac ;”  he  was  therefore  tried  by 
the  Almighty,  not  to  satisfy  him  “ to  whom  all  hearts  are  open, 
and  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid,”  but  to  demonstrate  to  the 
church  of  God,  throughout  all  ages,  the  strength  of  Abraham’s 
faith,  and  the  reality  of  his  devotedness  to  the  Most  High;  to 
leave  a lesson  upon  record  which  should  be  valuable  to  every 
future  generation  of  believers,  and  which,  by  God’s  grace,  will 
not  be  without  its  efficacy,  even  at  the  present  hour,  to  you  or 
to  myself. 

That  we  may  be  prepared  duly  to  estimate  this  most  severe 
and  urgent  trial,  we  must  remember  Abraham’s  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances. He  had  been  promised,  and  that  at  a time  when 
both  himself  and  his  wife  were  childless,  and  in  extreme  old 
age,  that  he  should  become  the  father  of  a nation  countless  as 
the  sands,  and  as  the  stars  of  heaven  for  multitude ; and  what 
was  a still  higher  blessing,  and  a far  nobler  object  to  rest  the 
fulness  of  his  joy  upon,  that  the  promised  seed  of  the  woman 
which  was  to  bruise  the  serpent’s  head,  should  spring  from  his 
loins,  that  in  him  all  nations  should  be  blessed.  When  the 
fuffilment  of  this  prophecy  had  become  impossible  to  mortal 
apprehension,  Isaac,  the  promised  son,  was  born,  and  all  the 


106 


ABRAHAM. 


doubts  of  Abraham  were  destroyed,  and  all  his  expectations 
realized.  This  then  was  the  situation  of  the  patriarch  at  the 
time  of  which  we  speak  ; a state  of  happiness  deriving  its 
strongest  feelings  of  delight  and  joy  from  the  one  single  posses- 
sion, and  the  astonishing  anticipations  involved  in  it,  which  it 
appeared  to  be  the  object  of  the  present  command  of  the  Most 
High  to  frustrate  and  to  dissipate  for  ever.  “ Take  now  thy 
son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,  and  get  thee  into 
the  land  of  Moriah,  and  offer  him  there  for  a burnt-offering  upon 
one  of  the  mountains  which  I will  tell  thee  of.”  Nothing  that 
could  agonize  the  heart  of  him  to  whom  it  came  was  omitted 
in  that  dreadful  sentence ; “thy  son,”  ‘‘  thine  only  son  :” 
“ Isaac,”  that  very  name  of  happiness  and  joy  is  recalled  to 
the  bleeding  heart  of  the  father — “ Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,” 
even  him  must  thou  sacrifice ; him  whom  the  expecting  patri- 
arch had  been  taught  by  God  himself  to  view  as  the  first  link 
of  that  mighty  chain  which  was  to  terminate  in  blessings  innu- 
merable and  incalculable  for  the  whole  human  race.  How 
plausibly  might  he  who  had  pleaded  so  powerfully  with  God 
in  behalf  of  the  righteous  in  Sodom,  “ Wilt  thou  also  destroy 
the  righteous  with  the  wicked  ? — that  be  far  from  thee,”  have 
now  argued  in  behalf  of  his  guiltless  child,  “ Wilt  thou  shed  the 
innocent  blood  ? — that  be  still  farther  from  thee.”  But  it  was 
the  direct  word  of  the  Almighty  which  required  it,  and  this  was 
sufficient  to  overrule  every  objection,  and  to  silence  every 
complaint. 

My  brethren,  would  you  desire  to  form  some  little  estimate 
of  the  reality  and  the  strength  of  your  own  dependence  upon 
God  ? — Then  place  yourself  for  a moment  in  a similar  situation 
to  that  of  the  patriarch.  Think  for  an  instant  of  that  person, 
of  that  object  which  you  love  the  dearest,  or  regard  the  most 
devotedly  upon  earth  : now  let  the  breath  of  the  destroying 
angel  pass  upon  it,  and  behold  it,  like  Jonah’s  gourd,  lie  with- 
ering at  your  feet — its  beauty  gone,  its  loveliness  departed, 
every  thing  that  engaged  your  thoughts  and  influenced  your 
affections,  for  ever  passed  away,  and  the  earth  speedily  about 


LECTURE  XI. 


107 


to  close  over  all  that  earth  holds  dear  to  you.  Could  you 
receive  such  a visitation  as  this,  I do  not  say  without  a tear, 
but  witliout  a murmur,  from  the  hands  of  your  heavenly  Father? 
Could  yoi^  say  with  the  Shunamite  of  old,  in  answer  to  the 
prophet’s  message,  “ Is  it  well  with  thy  child  ?”  that  child 
which  had  just  expired  in  her  arms,  could  you  reply  with  her, 
“It  is  well?”  Could  you  say  with  holy  Job,  “ The  Lord 
giveth  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away,  blessed  be  the  name  of 
the  Lord  ?”  This  is  a portion  of  faith’s  most  difficult  work, 
to  be  “ patient  in  tribulation,”  resigned,  gratefully  resigned  to 
the  will  of  God  ; and  yet  it  has  been  achieved  by  thousands, 
must  be  achieved  by  you,  ere  “ patience  shall  have  had  her 
perfect  work,”  and  your  will  have  been  brought  into  some 
blessed  degree  of  conformity  to  the  divine  will.  The  most 
valuable  of  God’s  gifts,  as  well  as  the  dearest  of  your  own 
delights  and  gratifications,  must  all  be  held  as  Isaac  in  his 
father’s  arms,  ready  to  be  laid,  and  at  a single  bidding  to  be 
sacrificed,  upon  the  altar  of  your  God. 

Continuing  the  history,  we  read  : — “ Abraham  rose  up  early 
in  the  morning  and  saddled  his  ass,  and  took  two  of  his  young 
men  with  him,  and  Isaac  his  son,  and  clave  the  wood  for  a 
burnt-offering,  and  rose  up  and  went  to  the  place  of  which 
God  had  told  him.”  How  valuable  an  instance  of  the  imme- 
diate actings  of  a true  and  lively  faith  ! The  command  was  sent 
during  the  night,  and  it  was  obeyed  early  “ in  the  morning.” 
There  was  no  doubtful  question  of  its  reality  or  its  obligation  ; 
there  was  no  guilty  “ communing  with  flesh  aud  blood  :”  even 
Sarah  was  most  probably  not  informed  of  it,  lest  her  affections 
should  be  too  strong  for  the  patriarch’s  faith.  Observe  the 
importance  of  this  example,  my  brethren,  in  innumerable  in- 
stances in  your  own  Christian  course.  Do  you,  for  instance, 
find  one  line  of  conduct  clearly  reprobated,  and  another  as 
clearly  recommended  by  the  inspired  word  of  our  God  ? then 
resolve  at  once  by  his  grace  to  forsake  that  which  He  con- 
demns, and  to  follow  that  which  He  commands.  Do  not  adopt 
that  too  common  worldly  policy  of  carrying  your  scruples  to 


108 


ABRAHAM. 


those  who,  you  have  reason  to  believe,  will  counsel  you  to 
disregard  them ; this  is  dealing  dishonestly  with  God,  with  the 
conviction  which  his  Spirit  has  implanted,  and  with  your  own 
souls.  Be  bold  in  your  obedience.  Be  prompt  in  following 
the  suggestions  of  an  enlightened  conscience,  for  they  are 
emanations  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  if  you  delay,  the  con- 
sequence generally  is,  that  the  Spirit  is  quenched  and  the  heart 
is  hardened ; and  who  shall  promise  you  that  these  blessed, 
these  invaluable  strivings  with  you  shall  ever  return  ? In  this, 
as  in  every  other  portion  of  your  Christian  life,  “ whatever 
your  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might.”  For,  alas  ! in 
how  many  instances  has  the  delay  of  a single  day  in  acting 
faith  upon  the  promises,  or  obeying  the  commandment  of  God, 
or  accepting  the  offers  of  a Saviour,  involved  the  loss  of  a 
boundless  eternity  ! 

Although  Abraham  was  thus  called  upon  to  resolve  instantly, 
the  severity  of  the  trial  was  unspeakably  increased  by  the  three 
days’  journey  between  its  commencement  and  its  fulfilment.  It 
was  on  the  third  day  of  this  long  and  painful  travel,  and  when 
approaching  nearly  to  its  conclusion,  that  Isaac  asked  the 
affecting  question  which  produced  the  answer  of  the  text;  for 
we  read  that  while  he  v/as  accompanying  Abraham  and  carry- 
ing the  wood  for  the  altar,  he  said,  “ Behold  the  fire  and  the 
wood,  but  where  is  the  lamb  for  a burnt-offering?”  How 
keenly  must  this  inquiry  have  put  the  faith  of  Abraham  to  the 
test?  “If,”  as  Bishop  Hall  beautifully  remarks,"^  “ if  Abra- 
ham’s heart  could  have  known  how  to  relent,  that  question  of 
his  dear,  innocent,  and  religious  son,  had  melted  it  into  com- 
passion. ‘ My  father,  behold  the  fire  and  the  wood,  but  where 
is  the  sacrifice  ?’  I know  not  whether  that  word,  ‘ my  father,’ 
did  not  strike  Abraham  as  deep  as  the  knife  of  Abraham  could 
strike  his  son ; yet  doth  he  not  so  much  as  think,  still  he  per- 
sists and  conceals,  and,  where  he  meant  not,  prophecies,  ‘ My 
son,  God  will  provide  a lamb  for  the  burnt-offering.’  ” 

In  proceeding  with  the  narrative,  we  read  in  the  9th  verse, 

* Bishop  Hall’s  Works,  p.  14,  fol. 


LECTURE  XI. 


109 


“ And  they  came  to  the  place  which  God  had  told  him  of,  and 
Abraham  built  an  altar  there  and  laid  the  wood  in  order  ; and 
bound  Isaac  his  son  and  laid  him  on  the  altar  upon  the  wood. 
And  Abraham  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  took  the  knife  to 
slay  his  son.”  Here  was  the  completion  of  Abraham’s  obedience 
and  of  his  faith ; any  thing  short  of  this,  and  all  would  have 
been  unavailing ; this  last,  this  agonizing  moment,  when  the 
knife  was  taken  and  the  hand  outstretched  to  strike,  consum- 
mated the  trial  and  bequeathed  die  faith  of  Abraham  to  the 
church  of  God  as  the  least  imperfect  model  which  mere  mor- 
tality has  ever  offered  it.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the 
Almighty  interfere  : then  did  Abraham  hear  those  blessed 
words,  “ Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither  do  thou  any’ 
thing  unto  him,  for  now  I know  that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing 
that  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me. 
And  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and  behold  behind 
him  a ram  caught  in  a thicket  by  his  horns  : and  Abraham 
went  and  took  the  ram,  and  offered  him  up  in  the  stead  of  his 
son.” 

Thus,  my  brethren,  it  was  demonstrated  that  the  faith  and 
trust  of  Abraham  were  not  ill-founded  ; he  trusted  in  God  that 
he  would  provide,  and  God  did  provide  at  the  very  moment 
when  human  aid,  and  human  forethought,  and  human  power, 
w^ere  utterly  incompetent  and  unavailable.  Rightly,  therefore, 
did  he  name  that  place  “Jehovah  Jireh  :”  “The  Lord  will 
provide,”  or,  “ In  the  mount  the  Lord  shall  be  seen.”  In  the 
hour  of  our  extremest  difficulty  the  Lord  shall  appear  for  me. 
How  astonishing  are  the  ways  of  God,  and  his  works  past 
finding  out!  Never  does  the  Lord  make  bare  his  arm  with 
such  merciful  and  wonderful  effect  as  when  the  arm  of  flesh 
faileth.  Thus  has  it  ever  been  ; with  Joseph  and  with  Gideon, 
and  with  Noah,  and  with  Daniel,  and  with  Job,  and  with 
all  the  believers  and  saints  of  old  ; and  thus  it  is  even  now 
according  to  that  most  true  proverb,  “ Man’s  extremity  is 
God’s  opportunity.”  This  is  not  a matter  of  mere  faitli ; it  is 
to  many  of  you  a matter  of  positive  and  frequent  experience. 


110 


ABRAHAM. 


In  the  day  of  sorrow  have  you  not  been  comforted  and  sup- 
ported by  the  power  and  presence  of  God,  when  no  mortal 
comforter  could  alleviate  your  distresses  ? On  the  bed  of  sick- 
ness, when  every  hope  has  vanished,  when  friends  and  relatives 
have  begun  to  speak  of  you  rather  as  those  who  have  been, 
than  those  who  are ; when  the  efforts  of  science  were  at  an 
end,  and  her  most  skilful  followers  had  no  counsel  to  offer, 
then  has  he  thought  that  “ God  will  provide,*’  brought  peace  and 
consolation  to  your  hearts ; then  has  the  good  Physician  mani- 
fested his  power  and  love,  and  more  than  fulfilled  your  most 
anxious  expectation,  and  shown  that  “ what  is  impossible  with 
man  is  possible  with  God.”  And  as  in  temporal,  so  in  spiritual 
difficulties,  the  Lord  has  indeed  provided  abundantly  above  all 
that  you  are  able  to  ask  or  think.  Have  you  never  felt  so  op- 
pressed with  the  burden  of  sin  that  you  knew  not  where  to  look, 
or  whither  to  fly  for  refuge — life  has  become  irksome  and  the 
thoughts  of  eternity  terrible  ? Here  again  the  Lord  has  pro- 
vided, and  by  leading  you  to  the  knowledge  of  a merciful  and 
tender  Redeemer,  he  has  restored  a peace  to  your  bosom  of 
which  neither  Satan  nor  the  world  shall  ever  permanently 
deprive  you. 

What  then  ought  to  be  the  effect  of  these  repeated  interfer- 
ences of  divine  mercy  in  your  behalf  ? Surely  to  teach  you 
never  to  doubt,  never  to  despair,  never  to  despond.  If  you  are 
visited  with  the  severest  trials,  to  feel  assured  that  they  are  as 
much  the  fruits  of  your  heavenly  Father’s  love,  as  his  more 
obvious  bl'jssings.  If  you  are  called  to  give  up  your  dearest 
possession,  the  wife  of  your  bosom,  the  children  of  your  love, 
to  be  content,  even  amidst  nature’s  keenest  sufferings,  to  kiss 
the  rod,  and  him  who  appointed  it.  If  you  are  called  away 
from  them  instead  of  them  from  you,  while  you  behold  those 
around  your  bed  who  will  soon  be  unprotected  and  helpless 
orphans,  still  even  in  this  darkest  hour  of  nature’s  wo,  to  remem- 
ber with  confidence,  “ God  will  provide,”  and  to  trust  implicitly 
to  Him  who  said,  “ Leave  thy  fatherless  children,  I will  pre- 
serve them  alive : and  let  the  widows  trust  in  me.” 


LECTURE  XI. 


Ill 


So  far,  then,  from  these  being  the  moments  to  doubt  the  love 
or  tenderness  of  your  heavenly  Father,  these  are  the  times 
when  they  shine  with  the  most  resplendent  lustre.  But  why 
is  it  that  God  loves  thus  to  appear  in  your  most  urgent  need, 
and  at  your  most  pressing  extremity  ? It  is  that  you  who  are 
really  his  children  may  learn  not  to  limit  your  view  of  his  infi- 
nite power  and  mercy  to  what  the  eye  of  reason  can  discern  in 
present  appearances,  or  even  to  what  the  eye  of  faith  can  dis- 
tinguish in  God’s  recorded  promises.  He  is  anxious  that  you 
should  trust  him  far,  far  beyond  all  that  can  be  brought  within 
the  scope  of  the  most  extended  vision  ; that  you  may  know  that 
you  possess  a resource  more  abundant,  a fountain  of  good 
whose  waters  stand  more  deep  and  flow  more  widely  than 
either  reason,  or  even  faith  itself  can  fathom,  in  the  all-suffi- 
ciency of  God.  When  every  particular  attribute  of  God  fails 
you,  when  you  are  driven  to  such  utter  extremity  that  the 
panting  soul  cannot  venture  to  believe  that  the  love  of  God,  or 
the  forbearance  of  God,  or  the  faithfulness  of  God  is  sufficient 
to  reach  his  case ; then  does  the  all-sufficiency  of  God,  in 
whom  you  trust,  stand  out  in  letters  of  light,  which  even  the 
closing  eye  can  read,  and  the  fainting  heart  can  dwell  upon ; 
then  can  you  still  hope,  still  struggle  on,  still  feel  assured  that 
He  who  has  been  able  and  willing  to  provide  for  you  in  time, 
is  as  able  and  as  willing  to  provide  for  you  in  eternity. 

My  Christian  brethren,  strive  to  appreciate  this  blessed  view 
of  the  all-sufficiency  of  Him  in  whom  you  have  believed. 
Delightful  as  it  is  in  our  emergencies  to  apply  the  express 
promises  of  God,  and  they  are  “ exceeding  great  and  precious,” 
to  our  souls,  there  is  something  more  delightful  in  this  which 
embraces  all  promises.  Many  have  known  the  time — you 
whom  I address  may  know  it — when  the  languid  frame  and 
the  baffled  spirit  are  incapable  of  recalling  a single  definite 
declaration,  a single  promise,  with  sufficient  distinctness  of 
apprehension,  to  rest  the  troubled  soul  upon.  Oh  ! at  such  an 
hour  how  blessed  is  the  thought  that  you  have  to  deal  with  an 
all-sufficient  Comforter, — an  all-sufficient  Saviour, — an 


112 


ABRAHAM. 


ALL-SUFFICIENT  God ! Ill  the  application  of  a particular  pro- 
mise of  God  you  may  be  mistaken  ; in  this  simple  dependence 
upon  his  all-sufficiency  you  never  can.  Therefore,  in  your 
extremest  difficulties,  and  troubles,  and  trials,  cast  yourself  in 
the  full  assurance  of  faith  upon  this  infinite  ocean,  and  you  are 
safe.  To  adopt  the  beautiful  language  of  an  old  divine,  “ If 
we  could  in  all  our  trials  lay  ourselves  down  in  the  arms  of  the 
Almiglity,  his  all-sufficiency  in  power  and  goodness,  how  much 
of  the  haven  should  we  have  in  our  voyage,  how  much  of 
home  in  our  pilgrimage,  how  much  of  heaven  in  this  wretched 
earth!  Friends,  throw  away  your  staves,  break  the  arm  of 
flesh,  lie  down  here  quietly  in  every  dispensation,  and  you 
shall  see  the  salvation  of  God.” 


LECTURE  XII. 

Genesis  xxv.  8. 

Then  Abraham  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died  in  a good  old  age,  an  old 
man,  and  full  of  years  ; and  was  gathered  to  his  people.” 

We  this  morning  arrive  at  the  conclusion  of  the  history  in 
which  we  have  now  for  some  time  past  been  engaged,  and 
desire  to  offer  our  sincere  and  hearty  thanksgivings  to  Almighty 
God  for  such  a measure  of  divine  assistance  as  He  has  been 
mercifully  pleased  to  supply.  The  closing  years  of  life  are 
usually  not  unaccompanied  by  warnings  or  by  trials.  Tiie 
companions  of  our  youth,  the  friends  of  our  maturer  age,  the 
near  connexions  who  have  gladdened  life,  and  the  beloved  rela- 
tives who  have  endeared  it,  fall  around  us,  and  they  who  live 
to  approach  the  scriptural  limit  of  the  days  of  the  years  of  man, 
often  find  themselves,  even  among  the  thickest  throngs  of  earth, 
solitary  and  deserted,  their  contemporaries  removed,  while  they 
themselves  remain  as  tlie  “ shaking  of  the  olive-tree,  or  the 
gleanings  of  grapes  when  the  vintage  is  done.” 


LECTURE  XII. 


113 


The  patriarch  who  forms  the  subject  of  our  history,  was  not 
exempted  from  those  trials  which  mingle  in  the  common  lot  of 
all  mortality.  At  the  opening  of  the  23d  chapter,  we  read  of 
the  death  of  his  beloved  wife  Sarah,  with  whom  he  had  enjoyed 
a remarkable  degree  of  peace  and  happiness,  during  a longer 
period  than  that  of  which  a whole  life,  at  the  present  day, 
usually  consists.  Yet,  long  as  this  delightful  relationship  had 
been  permitted  to  continue,  it  was  now  drawn  to  a close,  and 
Sarah  was  removed  to  that  blessed  world,  “ where  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage.”  There  is  something  in  the 
breaking  of  this  tie  more  affecting  perhaps  to  the  human  heart 
than  in  the  disruption  of  any  other  which  unites  us  to  our 
fellow-pilgrims  in  our  passage  through  this  world  of  sorrow ; 
perhaps  because  the  tie  itself,  when  existing  between  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  is  the  sweetest  and  most  valuable,  as  well  as  the 
most  ancient  which  God  has  appointed  in  the  world ; having 
been,  as  our  church  truly  declares,  “ instituted  of  God  in  the 
time  of  man’s  innocency,”  before  he  had  been  ruined  by  trans- 
gression, and  debased  by  sin  ; “signifying  unto  us  the  mystical 
union  between  Christ  and  his  church,”  a peculiarly  beautiful 
feature  in  the  marriage  tie,  and  which  gives  it  a remarkable 
precedency  over  all  others. 

Abraham  had,  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  enjoyed  this 
state  under  its  most  auspicious  aspect,  and  deeply  indeed  does 
he  appear  to  have  felt  its  termination : for  we  are  told,  and  it  is 
the  only  instance  in  which  the  mourning  for  a wife  is  recorded 
in  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  that  he  came  “ to  mourn  for 
Sarah,  and  to  weep  for  her.”  Sarah  is  always  spoken  of  in 
Scripture,  us  the  pattern  of  conjugal  fidelity  and  love  ; her 
example  is  held  forth  by  the  apostle  as  the  highest  model  foi 
Christian  women,  and  the  title  of  her  “ daughters,”  as  their 
most  honourable  distinction.  The  very  fact,  that  so  few  of  the 
incidents  of  her  history  are  recorded,  speak  strongly  in  her 
favour,  for  there  is  little  in  the  even  tenor  of  female  life,  when 
that  life  is  passed  in  the  unobtrusive  and  noiseless  path  of 
devotedness  to  God,  and  in  the  peaceful  round  of  domestic 
10* 


Hi 


ABRAHAM. 


duties,  which  can,  or  ought  to  form  the  subject  of  the  chronicler. 
The  very  privacy  of  the  Christian  graces,  manifested  in  such 
a walk  and  conversation,  endears  them  the  more  to  the  few 
who  have  the  opportunity  of  intimately  knowing  their  value, 
and  daily  and  hourly  appreciating  their  loveliness  and  worth. 

To  you,  my  brethren,  who  are  at  present  living  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  that  great  blessing,  for  the  deprivation  of  which  Abra- 
ham was  now  called  to  “ mourn  and  to  weep,”  viz.,  a truly 
godly  union,  allow  me  to  offer  a few  words  of  exhortation. 
Although  you  may  live  together  long,  and  happily,  and  unin- 
terruptedly, the  time  must  arrive  when  you  shall  part ; the  day 
must  come  when  you  shall  separate,  though  it  be  for  a time, 
from  all  whom  you  have  loved  and  cherished  here  below : let 
me  then  urge  you  so  to  live  in  the  exercise  of  all  the  daily  and 
hourly  duties  of  that  important  and  valuable  relationship,  as 
you  will,  upon  that  parting  day,  desire  that  you  had  lived. 
When  the  companion  of  years  of  trial,  or  of  years  of  happiness 
is  taken  from  you,  every  action  and  every  incident  of  your 
married  life  will  pass  before  you  ; trifles  forgotten  now,  will  be 
well  remembered  then ; every  unkind  word,  or  ungenerous 
thought,  or  hasty  and  irritable  expression,  will  return  upon 
your  mind,  and  you  will  “ write  bitter  things”  against  yourself 
for  every  deed  which  partook,  however  transiently,  of  unkindly 
feeling,  or  however  slightly  of  w'ant  of  affectionate  tenderness 
and  love.  There  will  be  pangs  sufficiently  deep,  and  piercing, 
and  heart-rending  at  that  hour,  without  these  evil  additions. 
Be  warned,  therefore,  now,  while  warnings  may  be  useful,  to 
live  as  they  should  live  who  are  partakers  of  the  same  hope, 
of  “ the  mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,”  of  “ the  communion 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.” 

Endeavour  to  enjoy  as  much  of  spiritual  intercourse  together 
—The  Lord’s  house,  the  Lord’s  word,  the  Lord's  supper, 
private  reading  and  prayer — as  your  time  and  opportunity  will 
permit.  Nothing  will,  through  divine  grace,  tend  so  much  to 
hallow  the  flame  of  wedded  love,  as  to  rekindle  it  daily  at  the 
altar  of  your  God.  Let  “ the  love  of  Christ  constrain  you,” 


LECTURE  XII. 


115 


not  merely  in  the  important  affairs  of  life,  but  in  all  its  thousand 
lesser  communings,  that  your  daily  intercourse  may  be  pure, 
peaceable,  gentle ; that  however  the  storm  may  rage  abroad,, 
there  may  be  a holy  calm  at  home,  which,  like  the  still  water 
in  some  secure  and  sheltered  anchorage,  remains  the  very 
picture  of  repose,  while  all  beyond  is  hurricane  and  storm. 
Remember  that  the  time  is  hastening  on,  when  it  will  be  too 
late  to  recall  what  is  past,  or  to  compensate  for  former  neglects 
by  future  attention ; the  time  when,  however  holily  and  happily 
you  may  have  lived  together,  however  sure  and  certain  your 
matured  hope  may  be  of  a re-union  on  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection,  you  will  be  called,  like  Abraham,  to  “mourn  and 
weep”  for  the  departed  here  below ; — again,  then,  I say,  be 
not  preparing  poison  for  the  barbed  arrows  of  that  hour  of  dark- 
ness. Live  as  those  who  are  to  part,  that  so  you  may  part  as 
those  who  are  to  live  together  throughout  eternity. 

The  inspired  historian  having  recorded  Abraham’s  grief  for 
Sarah,  continues,  “and  Abraham  stood  up  from  before  his 
dead,”  having  probably  been  prostrated  from  the  extremity  of 
his  anguish,  “ and  spake  unto  the  sons  of  Heth,  saying,  I am 
a stranger  and  a sojourner  with  you  ; give  me  a possession  of 
a burying-place  with  you,  that  I may  bury  my  dead  out  of  my 
sight”  He  was  unwilling  to  sorrow  as  one  without  hope,  and 
therefore  having  indulged  his  grief,  as  a Christian  may  and 
ought  to  indulge  it,  for  we  must  not  “ despise  the  chastenings 
of  the  Lord,”  his  next  act  was  to  obtain  a burying-place.  How 
affecting  is  the  consideration  ! — We  have  now  been  tracing  the 
history  of  Abraham  during  one  hundred  years,  throughout  the 
greater  portion  of  which,  the  promise  of  God  was  pledged  to 
him,  that  all  the  land  of  Canaan  should  be  his,  and  here  we 
find  him,  at  the  close  of  a long  and  toilsome  life,  obtaining  his 
first  inheritance  in  it,  and  that  a sepulchre  for  his  wife ! 

How  often  does  the  Almighty  in  his  providence,  render  the 
very  possession  which  we  have  laboured  for  with  the  greatest 
perseverance,  looked  to  with  the  deepest  anxiety,  and  expected 
with  the  most  joyous  anticipations,  the  grave  of  all  our  hopes, 


116 


ABRAHAM. 


and  all  our  earthly  happiness  ! Blessed  is  the  man  who  at  such  / 
a crisis  can  say,  “ Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth  good  in 
thy  sight !” 

Abraham’s  confession,  true  at  all  times,  was  peculiarly  striking 
and  true,  when  he  thus  uttered  it,  at  the  grave  of  Sarah  : “ I 
am  a stranger,  and  a sojourner  with  you.”  Never  do  we  feel 
such  full  conviction  of  this  gi'eat  truth,  never  do  we  feel  the  ties 
which  bind  us  down  to  earth  so  loosened,  so  nearly  rent  asun- 
der, as  when  we  stand  by  the  grave  of  those  we  love.  How- 
ever at  other  and  happier  times  we  forget  the  poor  frail  tenure 
by  which  we  hold  this  earthly  tabernacle,  we  are  strongly 
impressed  with  its  conviction  then.  We  then,  indeed,  “know 
the  heart  of  a stranger,”  and  wonder  that  we  have  ever  felt 
domesticated  here  on  earth,  where  there  is  so  much  of  sin,  so 
much  of  suffering,  so  little  of  stability  and  peace.  Would  that 
we  could  carry  the  constant  conviction  of  the  same  great  truth 
with  us  into  all  the  daily  business  of  life ; how  little  influence 
wmuld  its  trials  and  disappointments  possess  over  ns,  how  much 
internal  peace  would  it  bestow,  if  we  could  really  feel  that  these 
things  might  be  grievous  to  a resident,  or  a native,  but  that  we 
are  “ strangers  and  pilgrims,”  and  shall  soon  amid  the  comforts 
of  our  Father’s  house,  smile  at  all  these  little  disquietudes  of 
the  way. 

The  whole  transaction  of  Abraham’s  honourable  and  high- 
minded  purchase  of  the  sepulchre,  which  is  related  in  the 
remainder  of  the  chapter,  is  a beautiful  specimen  of  patriarchal 
times  and  patriarchal  simplicity.  But  we  hasten  to  the  close 
of  the  history.  There  is,  however,  yet  one  circumstance  of 
importance  which  marked  the  declining  years  of  the  pious 
patriarch,  and  is  too  beautifully  told  in  the  book  of  inspiration 
to  be  related  in  any  other  language  but  its  own.  “ And  Abra- 
ham was  old  and  well  striken  in  age,  and  the  Lord  had  blessed 
Abraham  in  all  things.  And  Abraham  said  unto  his  eldest 
servant  of  his  house,  that  ruled  over  all  that  he  had,  Put  I pray 
thee  thy  hand  under  my  thigh  : and  I will  make  thee  swear  by 
the  Lord,  the  God  of  heaven  and  the  God  of  earth,  that  thou 


LECTURE  XII. 


117 


shall  not  take  a wife  unto  my  son  of  the  daughters  of  tho 
Canaanites  among  whom  I dwell ; but  thou  shall  go  into  my 
country  and  to  my  kindred,  and  take  a wife  unto  my  son  Isaac. 
And  the  servant  said,  Peradventure  the  woman  will  not  be 
willing  to  follow  me  unto  this  land,  must  I needs  bring  thy  son 
again  unto  the  land  from  whence  thou  earnest  ? And  Abraham 
said  unto  him,  Beware  thou  that  thou  bring  not  my  son  thither 
again.  The  Lord  God  of  heaven,  which  took  me  from  my 
father’s  house  and  from  the  land  of  my  kindred,  and  which 
spake  unto  me,  and  that  sware  unto  me  saying,  Unto  thy  seed 
will  I give  this  land  ; he  shall  send  his  angel  before  thee,  and 
thou  shall  take  a wife  unto  my  son  from  thence  : and  if  the 
woman  will  not  be  willing  to  follow  thee,  then  thou  shalt  be 
clear  from  this  my  oath,  only  bring  not  my  son  thither  again. 
And  the  servant  put  his  hand  under  the  thigh  of  Abraham  his 
master,  and  sware  unto  him  concerning  that  matter.”  With 
the  remainder  of  the  story  we  have  at  the  present  no  concern, 
for  it  belongs  to  the  history  of  Isaac  ; but  of  this  the  last  great 
transaction  in  the  life  of  Abraham,  the  last  words  of  his  which 
have  been  bequeathed  to  the  church  of  God,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  speak. 

How  striking  is  the  manner  in  which  this  pious  parent  depre- 
cates the  probability  of  his  son  either  forming  an  ungodly  con- 
nexion, or  returning  to  the  land  of  idolatry  from  which  he  had 
himself  been  called.  What  would  all  the  wealth  of  Canaan 
have  profited  for  a dowry,  if  the  bride  should  bring  with  hei 
the  example,  and  the  sin,  and  the  curse  of  Canaan  ? What 
would  all  that  God  had  done  for  him  during  his  own  life,  by  so 
remarkable  and  merciful  a train  of  providences,  and  all  that  He 
had  promised  to  him  in  the  glorious  future,  have  availed,  if  the 
beloved  Isaac  should  fall  back  into  the  darkness  of  those  who 
know  not  God  ? How  earnestly  does  he  impress  upon  the 
mind  of  his  faithful  servant  the  most  anxious  solicitude  upon 
this  important  point ! “ Beware  thou  that  thou  bring 

NOT  MY  SON  thither  AGAIN.”  T wicc  is  this  most  emphati- 
cally repeated  in  these  short  directions  : the  very  last  words  of 


118 


ABRAHAM. 


Abraham  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  recorded  are  the  reitera- 
tion of  this  solemn  counsel,  “Only  bring  not  my  son 

THITHER  AGAIN.” 

You,  my  brethren,  who  are  parents,  and  whom  it  has  pleased 
God,  by  his  sovereign  grace,  to  gather  out  of  the  world  of  the 
ungodly,  let  me  urge  you  to  inquire,  are  you  evincing  the 
same  holy  anxiety  with  regard  to  your  children  ? Is  it  your 
daily  effort,  as  well  as  your  constant  prayer,  that  they  may  not 
be  unnecessarily  exposed  to  the  temptations  of  a world  from 
which  you  have  yourselves  in  some  degree  escaped?  Alas! 
even  among  religious  parents,  how  much  inconsistency  do  we 
see  upon  this  point ! How  often  are  their  children  permitted 
to  mingle  in  a society,  to  partake  of  pleasures,  to  visit  scenes, 
from  which  they  themselves  would  shrink  ! How  often  ; for 
the  questionable  purpose  of  forming  what  are  denominated  good 
connexions,  are.  they  sent  to  places  of  education,  where  the  wise 
man’s  declaration,  that  “ the  fear  of  God  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,”  is  exactly  reversed,  and  every  species  of  wisdom  in- 
culcated, while  the  fear  of  God  is  left  to  be  taught  at  some 
future  lime  and  at  some  other  place ! Christian  mothers,  be 
not  too  backward  in  declaring  your  real  feelings  upon  these 
subjects.  If  the  Spirit  of  God  have  taught  you  to  see  the 
guilt  and  danger  of  thus  exposing  the  young  minds  of  your  dear 
children  to  such  fearful  contaminations,  you  cannot  discharge 
your  own  consciencies,  you  cannot  clear  your  own  souls,  with- 
out earnestly  and  prayerfully  endeavouring  to  rescue  them.  If 
you  fail,  after  having,  in  humble  dependence  upon  divine 
strength,  made  the  attempt,  you  may  then  take  comfort  from  the 
reflection,  that  “ the  grace  of  God  is  not  bound,”  but,  sought 
by  a mother’s  prayers,  will  accompany  your  children  into  the 
furnace,  and  bring  them  uninjured  from  its  flames.  But  you 
can  take  no  comfort  from  this  thought,  if  you  stand  faithlessly 
by,  and  suffer  them  to  be  placed  there  without  one  resisting 
word,  one  aflectionate  entreaty,  one  fervent  prayer.  You  do 
not  know,  until  you  have  made  the  effort,  how  often,  like  Jacob 
of  old,  you  will  have  power  wdth  God,  and  he  will  enable  you 


LECTURE  XII. 


119 


to  prevail.  If  one  of  your  little  ones  be  missing  on  the  great 
day  of  account,  how  will  you  acquit  yourselves,  if  every  plea 
have  not  now  been  urged,  every  entreaty  used,  every  effort 
made  to  keep  them  from  the  snares  of  the  destroyer  ? 

The  last  scene  of  Abraham’s  life,  at  which  we  have  nosv 
arrived,  is  thus  briefly  narrated  by  the  inspired  historian. 
“ These  are  the  days  of  the  years  of  Abraham’s  life  which  he 
lived,  one  hundred,  threescore,  and  fifteen  years.  Then  Abra- 
ham gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died  in  a good  old  age,  an  old  man 
and  full  of  years,  and  was  gathered  to  his  people.  And  his 
sons,  Isaac  and  Ishmael,  buried  him  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah, 
in  the  field  of  Ephron;  the  field  which  Abraham  purchased  of 
the  sons  of  Heth  : there  was  Abraham  buried,  and  Sarah  his 
wife.” 

One  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  in  duration,  therefore, 
was  the  life  of  Abraham ; one  hundred  years  of  which  he  had 
spent  as  a stranger  in  a strange  land.  How  little  is  there  in 
tile  most  prosperous  life,  when  viewed  from  its  close,  to  form 
the  subject  of  a moment’s  envy  ! Abraham’s  chiefest  happiness 
was  this — not  that  he  was  favoured  with  a remarkable  abun- 
dance of  this  world’s  goods,  and  with  an  unusual  term  of  years 
to  enjoy  it,  but,  as  the  apostle  says,  that  “ he  was  called  the 
friend  of  God.”  How  blessed  then  is  the  consideration,  that 
although  neither  the  riches  nor  the  years  of  Abraham  are  within 
your  reach,  this  his  highest  honour  and  his  noblest  title,  is 
offered  as  freely  to  the  poorest  and  lowliest  among  you,  as  to 
the  patriarch  himself!  Would  you  also  be  the  friend  of  God, 
then  remember  the  words  of  inspiration — “ Know  ye,  that  they 
which  are  of  faith,  the  same  are  the  children  of  Abraham ; so 
then  they  which  be  of  faith  are  blessed  with  faithful  Abraham,” 
i,  e.  be  partakers  of  the  same  blessed  faith,  believers,  loving, 
obedient  believers,  in  the  same  Saviour,  and  you  shall  not  only 
inherit  the  same  title,  but  the  same  eternity. 

Doubtless  it  would  have  been  most  gratifying,  had  the  Spirit 
of  God  thought  good  to  have  handed  down  to  us  some  longer 
memorial  of  the  death  of  the  eminent  and  far-famed  subject  of 


120 


ABRAHAM. 


our  history  ; most  instructive  would  it  have  been  to  have  stood 
in  imagination  by  the  side  of  his  dying  bed,  and  to  have  heard 
those  assurances  which  he  doubtless  gave  to  his  beloved  son, 
of  the  mercy  and  faithfulness  of  Him  in  whom  he  had  believed, 
who  had  led  him  through  the  mazes  of  so  long  a pilgrimage 
with  so  much  of  peacefulness  and  comfort.  Or  if  this  had 
been  denied  us,  it  would  have  been  some  little  compensation  to 
have  overheard,  as  it  were,  but  a broken  sentence,  as  in  the 
case  of  Jacob,  of  those  secret  communings  which  were  passing, 
in  the  very  hours  of  nature’s  dissolution,  between  God  and  his 
soul,  “ I have  waited  for  thy  salvation,  O Lord.”  Nothing  of 
this,  however,  has  been  vouchsafed  in  the  instance  before  us, 
and  except  for  the  purpose  of  our  gratification,  nothing  of  this 
was  needed.  After  such  a life  of  faith  and  holiness,  there  is 
small  need  of  inquiring  what  was  the  death.  We  know  that 
it  could  not  have  been  otherwise  than  full  of  peace  and  hope. 
It  is  sufficient  that  the  inspired  historian  tells  us,  “ He  was 
gathered  to  his  people not  as  regarded  the  body,  for,  with 
the  exception  of  Sarah,  Abraham’s  “ people”  were  at  Charran, 
while  his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  land  of  Canaan  ; but 
he  was  gathered  to  his  people  when  his  spirit  ascended  to  those 
realms  whither  all  the  believing  people  of  all  preceding  ages, 
who  had  died  in  the  same  faith,  and  been  rendered  meet  for 
the  same  inheritance,  had  taken  up  their  blissful  abode. 

Yes,  my  brethren,  it  is  a solemn  consideration,  not  to  be  too 
hastily  dismissed,  that  the  day  of  death  will  be  to  all  of  us  the 
day  of  “ gathering  to  our  people  :”  the  scoffer,  to  the  scoffers, 
the  ungodly  to  the  godless,  the  profane  to  the  profane,  accord- 
ing to  our  Lord’s  directions  in  his  well-known  parable  of  the 
tares  and  the  wheat,  “Bind  them  in  bundles  to  burn  them.” 
While  on  the  other  hand,  the  believer  will  be  gathered  into  the 
company  of  believers,  and  will  sit  down  with  the  children  of 
God  for  ever.  Remember,  then,  in  choosing  your  friends  and 
your  associates  here,  that  you  are  choosing  them  for  eternity, 
and  that  death  is  merely  the  signal  for  gathering  you  to  them, 
to  part  no  more. 


LECTURE  XII. 


121 


If  the  word  of  God  be  silent  upon  the  particulars  of  Abra- 
ham’s death,  it  is — and  this  is  almost  the  only  recorded  in- 
stance— singularly  communicative  upon  what  happened  after 
death ; for  we  find  the  Almighty  declaring  to  Moses  at  the 
burning  bush,  more  than  three  hundred  years  after,  “ I am  the 
God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob  and  our  Lord’s  own  comment  upon  this  is, 
“ He  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living while  in 
the  only  parable  which  has  ever  drawn  aside  the  veil  from  the 
unseen  world,  the  father  of  the  faithful  is  represented  to  us  as 
enjoying  the  fulness  of  pleasure  at  God’s  right  hand  ; while,  to 
be  “in  Abraham’s  bosom,”  is  the  language  by  which  our  Lord 
expresses  the  highest  degree  of  heavenly  blessedness  and  ever- 
lasting joy. 

May  we,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  daily  ripening  for  that 
coming  hour  and  that  blessed  inheritance  ! May  we  be  ready 
to  confess  and  to  feel  with  Abraham,  that  we  are  “ strangers 
and  pilgrims  on  the  earth,”  “ desiring  a better  country,  even  an 
heavenly  !”  Then  will  God  not  be  ashamed  to  be  called  our 
God  ; then,  when  our  “ heart  and  our  flesh  fail  us,  will  God  be 
the  strength  of  our  heart  and  our  portion  for  ever.” 


11 


LECTUEES 


ON  THE 

HISTORY  OF  JACOB. 


LECTURE  I. 

Genesis  xxv.  27* 

Jacob  was  a plain  man,  dwelling  in  tents.” 

There  are  few  subjects  which  so  readily  and  so  universally 
attract  the  attention  of  those  to  whom  they  are  presented,  as 
Biography.  In  general  history  we  read  of  the  rise  and  fall  of 
nations,  of  the  triumphs  of  conquerors,  and  the  intrigues  of 
courtiers  ; but  all  these  things  pass  before  us  in  such  rapid 
succession,  and  are  so  totally  irrelevant  to  our  situations  and 
conditions,  that  they  seldom  affect  deeply  the  heart,  or  influence 
the  life  of  the  reader.  Very  diflerent  is  the  case  when  an 
individual,  moving  in  the  same  sphere,  and  subject  to  the  same 
trials  as  ourselves,  is  detached  from  the  general  group,  and 
faithfully  presented  to  us  by  the  pencil  of  the  biographer,  in 
the  interesting  scenes  so  abundantly  furnished  by  the  vicissitudes 
of  active  life.  In  such  instances  as  these,  more  especially 
when  relating  to  the  people  of  God,  we  are  able  almost  to 
identify  ourselves  with  the  persons  of  whom  we  read  ; we 
participate  in  their  difliculties,  grieve  at  their  sorrows,  rejoice 
at  their  joys ; and  thus  not  only  derive  a transitory  gratification, 
but  treasure  up  much  that  is  valuable  for  future  service.  Long 
after  the  liistory  has  ceased  to  interest  us,  we  recollect  the 
122 


LECTURE  I. 


123 


conduct  of  the  holy  men  of  whom  it  spake,  their  obedience  to 
the  commands  of  their  heavenly  Father,  their  meek  submission 
to  his  will,  their  contrite  acknowledgment  of  their  own  sins 
and  infirmities,  and  their  continual  experience  of  his  faithfulness 
and  love ; we  derive  fresh  strength  and  awakened  energy  in 
the  course  which  we  ourselves  are  pursuing,  and  are  oftentimes 
enabled,  by  the  remembrance  of  such  examples,  to  go  on  our 
way  strengthened  and  rejoicing. 

It  is  with  the  full  conviction  of  this  truth,  and  in  the  hope 
that  a connected  narrative  of  the  life  of  a faithful  servant  of  the 
Most  High,  as  recorded  by  the  unerring  pen  of  inspiration, 
may  present  us  with  many  very  valuable  lessons  in  our  Christian 
course,  that  I have  been  induced  to  select  the  eventful  and 
instructive  history  of  the  patriarch  Jacob,  for  the  subject  of  the 
Thursday  morning  Lecture  during  the  ensuing  season. 

The  claims  which  this  man  of  God  possesses  upon  our  atten- 
tion, are  indeed  widely  different  from  those  of  the  generality  of 
persons  who  form  the  subject  of  uninspired  biography  ; he  was 
neither  a monarch,  nor  a warrior,  nor  a philosopher,  nor  one  of 
the  rich  and  noble  of  the  earth,  living  in  palaces  “ceiled  with 
cedar  and  painted  with  vermilion,”  but,  as  the  language  of  the 
text  informs  us,  “ a plain  man,  dwelling  in  tents.”  Yet  does 
this  plain  man  possess  more  to  recommend  him  to  the  notice 
and  observation  of  the  Christian,  than  all  the  sceptred  monarchs 
of  Pagan  antiquity ; and  we  scruple  not  to  say,  that  no  titles 
ever  bestowed  upon  the  proudest  sovereign  of  the  world,  by 
the  most  fulsome  of  his  flatterers,  would  bear  a moment’s 
competition  with  that  honourable  distinction  which  the  Almighty 
himself  bestowed  upon  Jacob,  viz.,  the  remarkable  adoption  of 
his  name  into  the  everlasting  title  of  the  “ King  of  kings 
“ And  God  said  unto  Moses,  This  is  my  name  for  ever,  and 
this  is  my  memorial  unto  all  generations,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  JACOB.” 

The  individual  of  whom  we  are  about  to  speak,  was  the  son 
of  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  the  twin  brother  of  Esau,  the  child  of 
many  prayers.  Even  before  his  birth  great  things  had  been 


124 


JACOB. 


predicted  of  him  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  ; that  although  the 
younger  born,  he  should  have  the  dominion  ; that  he  should  be 
the  progenitor  of  a great  and  powerful  nation,  and  that  they  who 
sprang  from  his  loins  should  be  paramount  to  all  the  descend- 
ants of  his  elder  brother ; that,  as  St.  Paul  explains  it,  he  should 
be  in  his  own  person  peculiarly  the  object  of  the  love  of  God, 
and  that  his  descendants  should  be  an  elect  people,  chosen  of 
God,  unto  whom  should  be  “ committed  the  oracles  of  God,” 
and  of  whom,  as  concerning  the  flesh,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  promised  Messiah,  should  come. 

These  are,  indeed,  most  lofty  claims  upon  our  attention  and 
respect,  and  you  will  probably  approach  the  subject  before  us, 
if  not  with  overweening  anticipations  of  the  rank  and  splendour, 
at  least  with  high  expectations  of  the  perfect  holiness  and  purity, 
of  him,  of  whom  we  speak.  Alas  ! the  perfection  of  these 
qualities  belongs  not  to  the  sons  of  men.  It  was  in  the  Son  of 
God  alone  that^  mankind  have  ever  seen  perfection  arrayed  in 
human  form : it  was  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone  who  could  be 
truly  called  “ holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sinners.” 
We  are  indeed  about  to  speak  of  one  who  was  eminently  a man 
of  God,  of  one  upon  whom  the  God  of  love  had  set  his  seal, 
whose  “ name  was  written  in  heaven ;”  but  of  one,  let  it  be 
remembered,  who  was  also  a descendant  of  fallen  Adam,  an 
inheritor  of  a corrupt  nature  and  a deceitful  heart — imfact,  of 
one  like  ourselves,  a sinner  ! 

To  say  more  is  unnecessary — to  say  less  would  be  both 
unwise  and  untrue  ; for  it  is  one  of  the  peculiar  beauties  of 
scriptural  narrative,  that  no  veil  is  ever  drawn  across  the  frail- 
ties or  the  sins  of  those  whom  it  describes  ; there  is  no  flattery, 
and  there  is  no  detraction  ; we  have  the  whole  man  faithfully 
placed  before  us,  with  all  those  grievous  inequalities  of  temper, 
life,  and  conversation,  which  are  the  inevitable  results  of  the 
flesh  forever  “ lusting  against  the  Spirit his  piety  and  virtues 
distinctly  portrayed  that  they  may  be  imitated,  his  infirmities 
and  errors  as  candidly  avowed  that  they  may  be  shunned.  Let 
us  then  entreat  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  our  God, 


LECTURE  I. 


125 


that  both  these  invaluable  ends  may  be  answered  in  the  narra- 
tive we  have  selected ; that,  while  witnessing  in  the  course  of 
our  inquiries  the  occasional  imperfections  in  the  life  of  this  holy 
man,  we  may  be  led  to  acknowledge  and  deplore  their  far 
greater  prevalency  in  our  own ; and  that,  while  tracing  the 
remarkable  evidence  of  his  entire  dependence  upon  God,  and 
faithfulness  in  the  promised  Messiah,  we  may  seek  for  a more 
lively  and  influential  faith  in  that  great  descendant  of  Jacob,  in 
whom  “ all  nations  of  the  earth  are  blessed.” 

In  commencing  our  narrative  from  the  very  childhood  of 
Esau  and  Jacob,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  by  their  early  dissimi- 
litude. Although  nurtured  by  the  same  fond  and  affecticnate 
parents,  educated  beneath  the  same  roof,  and  partakers  of  the 
same  advantages,  they  possessed  little  in  common.  The  occu- 
pations and  the  joys  of  the  chase  formed  the  great  business  of 
the  life  of  Esau,  for  he  is  in  a very  emphatical  manner  denomi- 
nated by  the  inspired  historian,  “ a man  of  the  field  entirely 
devoted  to  the  pleasurable  pursuits  of  an  active  life,  with  but 
little  taste  for  the  contemplative  enjoyments  of  religious  medita- 
tion and  privacy : probably  such  an  one  as  we  should  now 
denominate  “ a man  of  the  world a man  devotedly  attached 
to  the  pursuits,  intimately  acquainted  with  the  habits  and  man- 
ners, and  not  a little  in  love  with  the  friendship  and  the 
pleasures  of  the  world  in  which  we  live.  Such  a man  was 
Esau,  even  without  darkening  his  character  by  the  shades 
which  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews  has  thrown  over  it  when  he 
denominates  him  “ a profane  person,  and  a fornicator while, 
as  if  in  marked  contradistinction,  we  have  the  description  of 
the  text : “ Esau  was  a cunning  hunter” — “ Jacob  was  a plain 
man.”  “ Esau  was  a man  of  the  field”-r-“  Jacob  dwelling  in 
tents.”  The  retired  and  simple  habits  of  the  younger  brother 
are  here  contrasted  with  the  worldly-minded  wisdom  of  the 
elder  : while  the  mode  of  living  adopted  by  Jacob,  viz.  “ dwell- 
ing in  tents,”  was  probably  an  evidence  of  the  same  unworldly 
spirit,  which  is  mentioned  to  the  praise  of  Abraham’s  faith, 

IP 


126 


JACOB. 


that  “he  sojourned  in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in  a strange* 
country,  dwelling  in  tabernacles.'*^ 

The  reflection  which  arises  in  our  minds  upon  the  first 
glance  at  the  marked  distinction  between  the  brothers,  is  of  this 
nature — strange,  that  in  the  same  family,  at  the  same  time,  and 
under  the  same  advantages,  two  characters  so  totally  opposite 
should  have  been  formed.  That  the  same  treatment  should 
have  matured  the  cunning,  worldly-minded  Esau,  ready  to 
sacrifice  every  thing  to  the  gratification  of  his  pleasure  and  his 
appetite,  and  the  retired  and  humble  Jacob,  devoted  to  the 
peaceful  quiet  of  a religious  home ! A moment’s  glance  into 
the  world  around  us,  a moment’s  reflection  upon  what  we  see, 
and  know,  and  are,  and  we  should  rather  ask,  is  it  not  too  often 
thus  ? Do  we  not  frequently  behold,  with  every  human  mean 
identically  the  same,  with  the  same  affection,  and  pains,  and 
watchfulness,  lavished  with  the  same  prodigality,  do  we  not 
continually  witness  a similar  result?  Do  we  not  see  in  the 
same  family,  one  child  “ a cunning  hunter”  after  this  world’s 
pleasures  and  emoluments  ; and  another  a “ plain  man,”  devoted 
to  home  enjoyments  and  domestic  pursuits,  content  to  dwell 
beneath  the  paternal  roof,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  his  God  ? 

The  philosopher,  with  the  book  of  human  reason  in  his 
hand,  assured  that  the  infant  mind  is  like  an  unwritten  tablet, 
ready  to  receive  with  equal  facility  the  good  or  evil  with  which 
we  should  inscribe  it,  hesitates  to  acknowledge  the  fact  which 
all  experience  enforces  upon  him,  because  he  is  quite  baffled 
and  confounded  in  every  attempt  to  reconcile  so  unaccountable 
an  anomaly.  The  Christian  turns  to  the  book  of  inspiration, 
and  finds  all  difficulty  solved.  He  there  discovers  that  the 
infant  mind  no  longer  resembles  the  unwritten  tablet ; but  the 
tablet  wofiilly  blotted  and  deeply  inscribed  with  Adam’s  guilt, 
and  with  Adam’s  sin  : that  “ every  imagination  of  the  thoughts 
of  man’s  heart  is  only  evil  continually  that  the  grace  of  God, 
and  that  alone,  can  erase  the  natural  impressions  of  evil,  and 
give  “ the  new  heart  and  the  new  spirit”  which  are  able  to 


LECTURE  I. 


127 


know,  to  love,  and  to  obey  God.  He  turns  from  the  book  of 
inspiration  to  his  own  bosom,  and  knows  by  his  own  experi- 
ence, that  all  he  reads  is  true,  that  it  is  indeed  God,  and  God 
alone,  “ who  hath  made  him  to  differ  from  another,”  and  that 
he  has  nothing  which  he  has  not  received.  That  the  grace  of 
God,  although  it  usually  follows  the  sincere  and  faithful  adop- 
tion of  the  means  which  his  own  will  has  appointed,  is  not 
restricted  to  those  means  ; and  that  although  the  child  dedicated 
early  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  waters  of  baptism,  educated 
consistently  with  those  privileges,  nurtured  by  the  care  and 
the  prayers  of  pious  parents,  will,  we  may  humbly  hope,  be  a 
“ partaker  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light yet  that 
many  who  have  been  denied  the  advantages  of  that  Christian 
education  which  ought  to  follow  a Christian  baptism,  who  have 
passed  their  infancy  in  neglect,  their  childhood  in  thoughtless- 
ness, and  their  manhood  in  sin,  have  also  been  the  objects  of 
a Saviour’s  love  ; have  been  checked  in  their  mad  career,  been 
plucked  as  brands  from  the  burning,  and  having  been  made 
“ willing  in  the  day  of  his  power”  by  the  effectual  striving  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  have  at  his  bidding  accepted  the  free  and 
full  salvation  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  “ received  the  atone- 
ment,” poured  forth  the  tear  of  penitence,  and  offered  the 
acceptable  sacrifice  of  a broken  and  contrite  heart.  Blessed 
be  God,  we  may  not  doubt  that  there  are  many  such  as  these, 
who  having  been  brought  through  great  tribulation,  shall  come 
from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Jacob 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  ascribing  all  their  salvation  to  the  free 
and  undeserved  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  uniting 
their  joyful  voices  with  those  around  the  throne  in  the  “ new 
song,”  “ Thou  art  worthy,  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast 
redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood.” 

The  character  of  Jacob,  strikingly  conscientious  and  devout 
as  we  shall  find  it  in  the  more  advanced  portion  of  the  narra- 
tive, exhibits  itself  under  circumstances  by  no  means  advan- 
tageous or  prepossessing  in  the  opening  scenes.  The  very 
first  incident  which  succeeds  the  text,  disposes  us  to  think 


128 


J A C O B. 


but  liglitly  either  of  his  brotherly  kindness  or  of  his  gene- 
rosity. 

Esau  returns  wearied  with  hunting,  at  a time  when  probably, 
(from  the  opening  of  the  following  chapter,)  a famine  was 
raging  in  the  land ; and  seeing  Jacob  preparing  his  daily  meal, 
he  applies  to  him  in  the  language  of  importunate  necessity, 
“ Feed  me,  I pray  thee,  with  that  same  red  pottage,  for  I am 
faint.”  Jacob,  instead  of  cheerfully  availing  himself  of  an 
opportunity  to  supply  the  wants  of  a perishing  brother,  seizes, 
with  great  avidity,  the  favourable  hour  for  acquiring  the  birth- 
right which  God  had  promised  him,  and  replies,  “ Sell  me 
this  day  thy  birthright thus,  in  a moment  of  hunger  and  in- 
difference to  the  promised  blessing,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
extreme  anxiety  to  obtain  it,  on  the  other,  the  important  bargain 
was  concluded  that  was  to  transfer  for  ever  to  the  younger  son 
the  right  of  primogeniture ; which,  at  that  time,  conveyed  the 
double  portion  of  all  temporalities,  the  especial  blessing  of  the 
dying  parent,  and,  above  all,  the  inheritance  of  the  covenant, 
which  God  had  made  with  Abraham,  that  from  his  loins  Christ 
should  come. 

That  Esau  merits  our  censure  for  treating  with  indifference 
so  unspeakable  a privilege,  has  been  decided  by  that  writer  of 
inspiration,  who  has  athxed  for  ever  the  epithet  “ profane”  to 
the  man  who  thus,  “ for  one  morsel  of  meat  sold  his  birthright :” 
and  that  Jacob  deserves  our  warmest  commendation  for  earnestly 
desiring  such  a blessing,  there  can  be  no  question.  But  here 
we  must  pause  : the  means  by  which  Jacob  obtained  the  birth- 
right were  utterly  unjustifiable,  uncharitable,  and  unkind;  and 
proved  as  much  his  want  of  faith  in  the  Almighty  to  bring  that 
to  pass  which  God  himself  had  promised,  as  it  proved  his 
want  of  tenderness  towards  his  suffering  brother. 

If  it  be  true  that  Jacob  acted  thus  wrongfully  in  the  circum 
stance  which  we  have  recounted,  how  shall  we  justify  him  in 
the  very  next  incident  in  which  we  find  him  engaged — tha^ 
memorable  and  deceitful  transaction,  in  which,  to  obtain  the 
promised  blessing,  he,  at  the  instigation  of  his  mother,  imposed 


LECTURE  I. 


129 


upon  the  old  age  of  his  affectionate  father,  and  overreached  his 
unsuspecting  brother?  Is  it  possible  that  this  could  be  the 
“ plain  man,”  whom  we  behold  clothed  in  the  garments  of  his 
elder  brother,  and  personating  the  first-born  ? Could  it  be  he 
who  concealed  his  artifice  under  “ the  refuge  of  lies,”  not  only 
declaring  that  he  was  Esau,  and  that  the  kid  was  venison,  but 
even  introducing  the  name  and  the  providence  of  his  God,  to 
give  greater  colour  to  his  abominable  falsehood  ? “1  have 

found  it  quickly,  because  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  it  to  me.” 
When  we  read  the  guilty  transaction  we  blush — not  only  for 
the  parties  concerned,  but  for  the  whole  human  race,  that  such 
a fraud  could  have  been  suggested  and  carried  into  execution, 
and  this  not  in  the  tents  of  ungodliness,  but  in  that  single  family, 
which  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth,  alone  professed  the  wor- 
ship of  the  God  of  truth.  How  humbling  to  the  holiest ! how 
awful  a warning  to  the  most  eminent  of  the  servants  of  the 
Lord  ! “ Let  him  that  thinketh  Le  standelh,  take  heed  lest  he 

fall  1”  Let  liim  who  wilfully  indulges  in  the  smallest  degree 
of  known  sin,  observe  how  rapidly  sin  advances — how  fearfully 
it  darkens  as  it  advances ; how  soon  the  lie  requires  to  be 
strengthened  by  the  oath,  and  the  oath  to  be  supported  by  the 
tremendous  blasphemy,  which  would,  if  possible,  have  made 
it  appear  that  God  himself  was  a confederate  in  the  fraud  : — 
“ The  Lord  thy  God  brought  it  to  me.”  Shall  we  then  attempt 
to  justify  that  conduct  in  Jacob,  which  we  should  deeply  con- 
demn in  ourselves,  and  deplore  in  you  ! God  forbid  ! It  is 
vain  to  say,  that  Jacob  knew  the  blessing  was  already  his  by 
purchase,  having  acquired  it  when  he  bought  the  birthright, 
and  that  he  was  therefore  only  possessing  himself  of  what  he 
considered  his  unquestionable  right.  This  is  no  extenuation. 
Isaac,  his  father,  was  a reasonable  man,  and  a conscientious 
man ; why  not,  therefore,  plead  the  right  before  him,  and  con- 
vince him  that  he  was  about  to  bestow  that  upon  Esau  of  which 
Esau  had  himself  disposed.  It  is  equally  vain  to  say,  that  as 
the  Almighty  had  consigned  the  blessing  to  Jacob,  it  was  in- 
alienably his  own,  and  therefore  might  be  obtained  by  any 


130 


JACOB. 


method  in  bis  power.  Isaac  was  a holy  man,  as  well  as  a 
reasonable  and  a conscientious  man ; why  not,  therefore,  recall 
to  his  recollection  this  perhaps  long- forgot  ten  promise,  and 
enforce  upon  his  conscience  the  duty  and  necessity  of  his 
compliance  ? Or  shall  we  agree  with  those  who  say  that  “ the 
offence  of  Jacob  was  certainly  alleviated,  if  not  entirely  taken 
off,  by  the  circumstance  of  Rebekah  pledging  herself  to  bear 
the  blame  ?”  No  : the  single  injunction  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
not  to  “ do  evil  that  good  may  come,”  aims  a death-blow  at  all 
such  casuistry  as  this.  The  sin  of  deceiving  a man  into  what 
is  right,  differs  little  from  the  sin  of  deceiving  him  into  what  is 
evil.  The  effect  of  the  sin,  we  grant,  is  different — the  moral 
turpitude  may  be  different — but  the  sin  against  God  remains 
unaltered;  while,  to  imagine  for  a moment  that  Rebekah’s 
pledging  herself  to  bear  the  blame,  “ Upon  me  be  thy  curse, 
my  son,”  would  extenuate  the  guilt  of  her  son,  is  indeed  a 
low  tone  of  Christian  morals.  There  is  but  one  Being  who 
has  ever  said — who  can  ever  truly  say,  “ Upon  me  be  thy 
curse.”  The  compassionate  Saviour,  the  truly  tender  parent, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — he  indeed,  has  not  only  made  the 
astonishing  offer,  but  he  has  proved,  with  his  life’s  blood,  his 
power  and  willingness  to  fulhl  it.  But  to  whom  does  he  address 
the  encouraging  declaration  ? Not  to  the  sinner  rushing  head- 
long into  guilt — to  the  man  of  subtlety  and  cunning,  proceeding 
artfully  to  overreach  his  neighbour ; but  to  the  man  oppressed 
and  borne  down  by  a deeply  contrite  sense  of  sin  committed, 
and  sincerely  lamenting  with  a godly  sorrow,  that  he  has  grieved 
the  Holy  Spirit ; that  he  has  offended  a good  and  merciful  God  ; 
that  he  has  contracted  a load  of  guilt ; that  he  has  merited  an 
everlasting  curse.  To  him,  to  you^  my  brethren,  if  there  be 
any  here  who  feel  the  malady,  and  ardently  desire  the  presence 
of  the  good  Physician  : to  you  the  compassionate  Saviour  does 
indeed  say,  “ Upon  me  be  thy  curse,  my  son :”  I have  already 
borne  it  for  every  penitent  and  believing  sinner ; I have  borne 
it  for  you  ; I will  “ not  break  the  bruised  reed,  or  quench  the 
smoking  flax.”  “ Lift  up  the  hands  which  hang  down,  and 


LECTURE  I. 


131 


the  feeble  knees,’-  and  raise  your  eyes  to  the  cross  on  whicli  I 
hung  on  Calvary,  and  “ behold  the  hand-writing  of  ordinances 
that  was  against  you,  blotted  out  and  nailed”  for  ever  there 
when  I was  “ made  a curse”  for  man ; “ upon  me”  has  been 
“ thy  curse,  my  son,”  that  believing  in  me  you  may  obtain 
remission  of  sins,  the  full  and  perfect  forgiveness  which  I have 
purchased.  Come,  therefore,  and  although  you  have  treated 
me  as  an  enemy,  approach  me  as  a friend  ! Come,  and  although 
you  have  deserved  the  curse,  inherit  the  blessing  ! I have 
satisfied  the  justice  of  God  which  you  could  not  satisfy.  I 
have  borne  the  wrath  of  God  which  you  could  not  bear ; the 
chastisement  of  your  peace  was  upon  me,  and  with  my  stripes 
you  are  healed. 

This  the  fondest  earthly  parent  cannot  say.  The  tenderest 
mother,  though  she  may  have  borne  the  shame,  has  never  yet 
borne  the  curse  for  her  sinning  child  ; for  “ no  man  may  deliver 
his  brother,  or  make  an  atonement  unto  God  for  him,  for  it  cost 
more  to  redeem  their  souls,  so  that  he  must  let  that  alone  for 
ever.”  We  must  therefore  be  content  to  leave  this  humiliating 
instance,  as  a blot  in  the  character  of  Jacob,  without  apology 
and  witliout  excuse,  only  observing,  that  disgraceful  as  it  was, 
God  could  forgive  it,  and  God  did  forgive  it,  for  the  sake  of  the 
“ Lamb  slain  from  the  foundtain  of  the  world.”  Blessed,  for 
ever  blessed,  be  the  Lord,  that  he  has  thus  laid  help  upon  one 
that  is  mighty ; that  although  he  cursed  the  sin,  he  has  opened 
a refuge  for  the  sinner ; that  “ the  fountain  for  sin  and  un- 
cleanness, which  was  unsealed  on  Calvary,  has  never  since 
been  closed,  and  that  all  who  approach  it  may  take  of  its  heal- 
ing streams,  and,  drawing  near  in  penitence  and  faith,  shall 
assuredly  be  made  whole. 

My  beloved  brethren,  while  the  day  of  grace  lasts,  be  earnest, 
be  unceasing  in  seeking  him  whom  Jacob  sought,  that  you  may 
partake  of  the  forgiveness  which  Jacob  found.  “ Turn  you  to 
tlie  strong  hold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope ;”  cling  to  the  horns  of 
that  altar  from  which  no  penitent  was  ever  torn  : plead  all  your 
weakness,  your  infirmities,  your  need ; “ cast  all  your  care  upon 


132 


JACOB. 


him  who  carelh  for  you  and,  as  he  has  borne  your  curse,  be  ^ 
assured  he  will  also  bear  your  sorrows  and  your  difficulties ; 
and  none  shall  “ pluck  you  out  of  his  hands.”  Lay  upon  him 
the  burden  of  your  sins,  and  receive  from  him  the  blessing  of 
his  righteousness  ; and  may  a gracious  and  compassionate  God 
not  withhold  from  you  the  salvation  which  his  own  dear  Son 
has  purchased  for  all  “ who  name  the  name  of  Christ  and 
depart  from  iniquity.” 


LECTURE  II. 

Genesis  xxviii.  5. 

‘‘  And  Isaac  sent  away  Jacob. 

“ Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out,”  is  one  of  those  real 
truths  of  revelation  which  experience  has  fully  justified,  and 
which  the  life  of  Jacob  will  most  abundantly  exemplify.  We 
have  beheld  him  regardless  of  truth,  of  aflection,  of  duty,  de- 
termined upon  obtaining,  by  sinister  means,  the  blessing  which 
the  God  of  his  father  had  already  promised  and  insured  to  him  ; 
we  are  now'  to  trace  the  consequences. 

Think  you  that  the  Almighty  will  deny  Jacob  the  blessing 
which  he  so  justly  forfeited  ? No  ! The  purposes  of  God  were 
neither  to  be  traversed  by  Jacob’s  duplicity,  nor  by  Isaac’s 
opposition.  The  one  would,  if  possible,  have  frustrated  the 
intentions  of  the  Most  High  by  his  disobedience,  the  other 
would  accelerate  them  by  his  craftiness ; shall  then  the  omni 
scient  Jehovah,  to  punish  the  waywardness  of  his  creatures 
alter  his  own  determination  ? Poor  erring  mortals  like  ourselves 
might,  indeed,  have  found  it  necessary  to  have  acted  thus  ; but 
“ God  is  not  a man  that  he  should  lie,  neither  the  son  of  man 
that  he  should  repent : hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it  ? oi 
nath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it  good  ?”  Yes;  God 
has  blessed  the  favoured  Jacob,  and  he  shall  be  blessed ; but 


LECTURE  II. 


133 


crooked  were  the  pallis  through  which  he  sought  tlie  blessing, 
and  sad  and  evil  shall  the  days  of  the  years  of  his  pilgrimage 
be,  and  deep  and  bitter  his  repentance,  before  he  beholds  the 
faintest  dawn  of  that  sunshine,  whose  beams  he  fondly  hoped 
would  now  play  unceasingly  upon  his  path. 

We  behold  Jacob,  at  the  opening  of  the  present  Lecture, 
the  successful  rival  of  his  worldly-minded  brother,  the  espe- 
cially beloved  son  of  Rebekah,  and  the  blessed  of  his  father — 
to  the  transient  observer,  a prosperous  and  a happy  man. 
When  shall  we  learn  not  to  calculate  happiness  by  external 
circumstances  ? When  will  the  poor,  the  afflicted,  and  the 
destitute,  be  taught  to  believe  that  the  gifts  of  our  heavenly 
Father  are  far  more  equally  dispensed  than  they  imagine  ; that 
the  rich  are  not  necessarily  happy,  or  the  idle  necessarily 
peaceful ; that  the  heart  alone  knoweth  its  own  sorrow,  and 
that  in  many  an  envied  lot  some  root  of  bitterness  has  been 
planted,  felt  only  by  its  possessor,  which  rankles  within  the 
bosom,  and  fixes  its  inextricable  thorn,  while  all  without  is 
blossoming  ? 

My  poorer  brethren,  there  is  but  one  possession  which  does 
not  disappoint,  which  you  cannot  too  earnestly  covet,  which 
in  every  state  and  under  every  circumstance,  can  insure  happi- 
ness ; and  this  a possession  which,  blessed  be  God,  as  riches 
cannot  secure,  so  neither  can  poverty  deny — a heart  reconciled 
to  God  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ; and  as  the  sure  and  certain 
fruits  of  it,  a conscience  at  peace  with  God,  with  itself,  and 
with  all  the  world.  Obtain  this  and  you  have  obtained  happi- 
ness, enduring  happiness,  which  will  not  fly  at  the  sight  of 
poverty,  or  wither  at  the  approach  of  death  ! Where  are  the 
joys  of  this  world,  of  riches,  pleasures,  rank,  of  which  their 
votaries  can  truly  predicate  the  same  ? 

It  was  the  declaration  of  the  wise  king  of  Israel : “ When  a 
man’s  ways  please  the  Lord,  he  maketh  even  his  enemies  to 
be  at  peace  with  him.”  That  the  way  by  which  Jacob 
obtained  the  blessing  could  not  please  the  God  of  truth,  we 
may  fearlessly  assert.  That  his  enemies  were  not  at  peace 
12 


134 


JACOB. 


with  him,  the  narrative  before  us  sufficiently  testifies.  In  vam 
did  every  external  circumstance  shine  upon  Jacob,  a cruel  and 
an  irreconcilable  brother  had  resolved  upon  his  death  ; and,  in 
the  midst  of  prosperity,  his  very  life  became  a burden  to  him, 
and  he  knew  not  how  to  avoid  the  blow  which  might  at  any 
unguarded  moment  of  domestic  intercourse  be  inflicted  by  the 
hand  of  so  near  a relative.  At  the  suggestion,  therefore,  of 
Rebekah,  and  with  the  full  consent  of  Isaac,  Jacob  resolves  to 
forsake  those  tents  in  which  he  had  so  long  resided,  and  where 
every  treasured  recollection  spoke  of  a father’s  piety  and  a 
mother’s  love.  A happy,  because  a holy  home,  had  long  been 
his ; but  he  was  now  to  leave  it.  He  was  to  enter  upon  a 
world  of  which,  by  experience,  he  knew  but  little,  and  to 
whose  inhabitants  his  high  and  hallowed  expectations,  aye, 
even  the  God  whom  he  served,  and  the  heaven  to  which  he 
aspired,  were  strangers ; from  whom  therefore  he  could  hope 
for  little,  either  of  sympathy  or  regard. 

You,  who  know  by  experience  the  bitter  feeling  of  leaving 
for  the  first  time,  the  roof  under  which  you  have  long  been 
partakers  of  every  blessing,  where  kindnesses  have  been  be- 
stowed abundantly,  and,  at  that  season  when  kindness  makes 
the  deepest  and  most  durable  impression,  where  your  first 
lisping  petitions  were  offered  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  your 
earliest  impressions  of  good  received,  will  not  think  lightly  of 
the  sacrifice  for  which  Jacob  was  now  called  upon. 

This  was  the  first-fruits  of  the  act  of  faithlessness  in  which 
he  had  borne  so  distressing  a part.  His  “ sin  had  already 
found  him  out,”  and,  as  its  obvious  and  immediate  consequences, 
he  was  sent  forth  a wanderer  and  an  alien  from  that  very  coun- 
try, his  anxiety  to  obtain  which  had  formed  one  motive  for  his 
late  duplicity.  ^ 

It  must  have  been  a bitter  hour  for  Jacob  when  he  thus 
quilted  the  tents  of  Isaac ; his  destination,  by  the  desire  of  his 
parents,  was  Haran,  the  residence  of  Laban,  his  mother’s  brother, 
at  a distance  of  more  than  four  hundred  miles  ; a long  and  weari 
some  journey  at  any  time  and  under  the  happiest  circumstances, 


LECTURE  II. 


135 


but  to  Jacob,  friendless  and  companionless,  a penitent  and  soli- 
tary pilgrim,  it  must  have  been  an  undertaking  of  no  common 
difficulty  and  no  ordinary  danger. 

Fearful  as  it  was  however,  Jacob,  confiding  in  the  promised 
blessing  of  his  God,  hesitates  not  to  undertake  it ; and  as  he 
himself  informs  us,  (in  a subsequent  part  of  his  history,)  with 
only  his  staff  in  his  hand,  he  sets  forth  upon  his  solitary  journey. 
It  was  at  the  close  of  the  first  day’s  travel,  when,  wearied  with 
the  long  and  toilsome  march  of  forty  miles  beneath  an  eastern 
sun,  “ he  lighted  upon  a certain  place,”  says  the  historian, 
“ and  tarried  there  all  night,”  the  heavens  his  canopy  and  the 
stones  his  pillow.  To  a mind  occupied  as  Jacob’s  must  have 
been  with  the  fond  recollections  of  home,  with  the  desolating 
sense  of  his  own  utter  solitariness  and  helplessness,  and,  above 
all,  with  compunctious  visitings  for  the  transgressions  of  which 
he  had  been  so  lately  guilty,  that  sunset  must  have  been  a 
melancholy  hour.  Often  must  the  sad  reflection  have  crossed 
his  bosom : “ why  am  I here  ?”  and  as  often  must  conscience 
have  returned  the  humiliating  answer,  “ because  thy  sin  has 
found  thee  out;”  and  while  this  godly  sorrow  was  thus  work- 
ing repentance  unto  salvation,  many  a pang  must  have  been 
imparted  by  feelings  of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  whether  he  were 
indeed  under  the  special  guidance  of  the  Most  High,  the  object 
of  his  pardoning  love,  and  of  his  providential  care.  It  was 
during  these  hours  of  darkness  that  God  was  preparing  a 
message  of  peace  and  love  for  his  benighted  soul.  The  shades 
of  evening  had  now  closed  thickly  around  his  pillow,  when  he 
was  favoured  with  the  following  remarkable  vision. 

“ He  dreamed,  and  behold  a ladder  set  upon  the  earth,  and 
the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven  : and,  behold,  the  angels  of 
God  ascending  and  descending  on  it,  and,  behold,  the  Lord 
stood  above  it.”  A vision  indeed,  most  strikingly  adapted  to 
Jacob’s  present  state  of  mind,  and  highly  calculated  to  impart 
confidence  and  comfort ; teaching  him  in  no  ambiguous  man- 
ner, that  poor  and  of  little  value  as  he  might  be  in  his  own 
estimation,  he  was  the  object  of  the  immediate  guardianship 


136 


JACOB. 


and  watchfulness  of  those  angelic  spirits  who  are  “ sent  forth 
to  minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation and 
that  wddely  separated  as  the  heavens  are  from  the  earth,  the 
connexion  between  them  is  most  intimate  and  indissoluble  ; 
that  wherever  God  has  a people,  whether  the  inhabitants  of  the 
populous  city,  or  the  wanderers  of  the  cheerless  desert,  they 
are  equally  the  objects  of  the  care  and  love  of  their  heavenly 
Father;  and,  that  so  especial  is  the  providence  of  God,  that 
one  poor  traveller,  sleeping  upon  a pillow  of  stones,  appears 
to  exercise  as  much  of  the  thoughtfulness  and  consideration  of 
the  King  of  kings  as  the  highest  monarch  upon  earth.  To 
Jacob  such  assurances,  at  such  a time,  must  have  been  invalu- 
able, for  they  convinced  him  that,  deeply  as  his  past  conduct 
had  offended  God,  the  Lord  had  not  cast  away  his  servant ; 
that  God  was  willing  to  receive  his  repentant  child,  and,  for 
the  sake  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  to  pardon  and  accept  him. 

My  Christian  brethren,  many  centuries  have  rolled  away 
since  Jacob  lay  upon  his  bed  of  earth,  and  beheld  this  cheering 
vision  descending  from  that  fount  of  light  which  no  man  may 
approach  unto  ; yet  can  we  not  read  it  at  the  present  hour 
without  feeling  that  it  wonderfully  and  sweetly  harmonizes 
with  our  own  experience,  and  with  the  dealings  of  our  heavenly 
Father  with  ourselves.  Although  not  the  travellers  of  a desert, 
we  are  (and  would  that  we  still  more  strongly  felt  ourselves  to 
be  !)  but  strangers  and  pilgrims  here  seeking  a better  country, 
even  an  heavenly  one.  And  of  what  nature  are  the  manifesta- 
tions with  which  our  merciful  Father  favours  us  at  the  outset 
of  our  heavenward  journey  ? Are  they  not  similar  to  this  of 
Jacob  ? Does  He  not,  when,  with  a sense  of  our  own  weak- 
ness, we  are  tempted  to  despond  at  the  fearful  separation  which 
sin  has  made  between  God  and  us,  when  our  conscience  is 
writing  bitter  things  against  us,  and  every  other  feeling  is 
absorbed  in  the  overwhelming  sense  of  our  own  helplessness 
and  sin  ; does  Me  not,  during  those  hours  of  darkness,  prepare 
a message  of  love  for  our  souls  ? does  He  not  assure  us  that 
there  is  pardon  for  the  penitent ; peace  for  the  humbled  and 


LECTURE  II. 


137 


believing  sinner ; that  “ there  is  now  no  condemnation  to  them 
which  are  in  Christ  Jesus  ?”  Does  He  not  open  our  eyes  to 
behold  the  ladder  set  upon  the  earth,  the  top  reaching  to  heaven 
— that  ever-blessed  mediator,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ- — the  only 
connecting  link  between  earth  and  heaven,  between  man  and 
God ; the  base  of  the  ladder  his  human  nature  visible  here  on 
earth,  the  top  of  the  ladder  his  divine  nature,  the  immutable 
Godhead  in  heaven  ? and  are  not  the  messages  of  kindness, 
and  reconciliation,  and  everlasting  blessedness,  with  which  we 
are  favoured,  and  every  one  of  which  passes  through  this  only 
appointed  way,  the  angels  descending  to  us,  while  our  own 
prayers  must  ascend  to  God  by  the  same  ladder,  must  be 
olTered  up  by  faith  in  Jesus,  and  pass  through  him^  “ the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life,”  the  only  intercessor  with  the  Father? 

You,  who  have  with  Jacob  sincerely  deplored  your  own 
infirmities  and  sins,  will  rejoice  with  him  at  the  supernatural 
aid  which  God  has  offered  you.  You  have  seen  with  the  eye 
of  faith,  that  ladder  which  “ flesh  and  blood  have  not  revealed 
unto  you,  but  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven.”  Every  round 
of  tliat  ladder  speaks  joy,  and  hope,  and  strong  consolation  ; 
and  blessed,  far  above  all  earthly  blessedness,  is  the  poorest 
and  most  destitute  among  you,  even  though  your  head  may  rest 
upon  the  earth  for  your  pillow,  if  your  eyes  have  been  opened 
to  behold,  and  your  hearts  to  receive,  the  consolations  of  this 
heavenly  vision. 

By  Jacob  this  remarkable  manifestation  of  the  especial  provi- 
dence and  love  of  God  appears  to  have  been  most  gratefully 
received  and  fully  appreciated  ; for  his  waking  declaration  was, 
“ Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this  place.”  Here,  even  here,  I have 
found  a protecting  God ; I am  as  much  the  object  of  his  parental 
regard  and  continual  watchfulness  upon  the  sands  of  the  desert, 
as  in  the  tents  of  Isaac ; “ this  is  none  other  but  the  house  of 
God,  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.”  These  impressions,  so 
powerfully  imparted  by  the  heavenly  vision,  were  as  fully 
corroborated  by  the  heavenly  voice ; “ For  the  Lord  stood 
above  the  ladder,  and  said,  I am  the  Lord  God  of  Abraham 

12* 


138 


JACOB. 


thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,”  and  then  repeating  the 
original  promise  of  the  land,  continued,  “ I am  with  thee,  and 
will  keep  thee  in  ail  places  whither  thou  goest,...,for  I will  not 
leave  thee  until  I have  done  that  which  I have  spoken  to 
thee  of.” 

After  such  assurances  as  these,  “ the  desert,”  to  the  eyes  of 
the  awakened  Jacob,  must  have  “ rejoiced  and  blossomed  as 
the  rose ;”  no  longer  would  he  feel  himself  a solitary  outcast, 
while  the  God  of  his  fathers  was  his  companion  ; no  longer 
would  he  be  uncertain  of  the  result  of  his  journey,  when  the 
same  God  had  pledged  himself  to  continue  with  him  unto  the 
end. 

Where  is  the  convinced  and  enlightened  Christian  who  may 
not  sympathize  in  these  feelings  with  this  man  of  God  ? “ Be- 
hold I am  with  thee,”  is  the  source  of  all  our  confidence : 
“ greater  is  he  that  is  in  you,  than  he  that  is  in  the  world,”  is 
the  foundation  of  the  believer’s  joy.  There  are  times,  even  to 
the  most  devoted  Christian,  when  his  hope  burns  with  a more 
feeble  light,  and  when  he  feels  the  corruptions  of  his  fallen 
nature  still  unsubdued  within  his  bosom.  The  faithlessness, 
which  he  trusted  was  a conquered  enemy,  raises  in  some  new 
shape  its  hydra  head,  inducing  him  to  doubt  the  truth  or  the 
love  of  the  Saviour  who  has  redeemed  him  ; tempting  him  to 
despondency  and  despair  ; leading  him  to  believe,  after  all  which 
the  free  and  sovereign  grace  of  God  has  wrought  both  for  him 
and  in  him,  he  shall  still  most  assuredly  be  a cast-away.  In 
these  moments  how  blessed  to  the  Christian’s  soul  are  such 
declarations  as  those  with  whicli  the  most  high  God  now  con- 
soled the  fainting  heart  of  his  servant,  “ I will  not  leave  thee 
until  I have  done  that  which  I have  spoken  to  thee  of:”  or,  as 
the  same  promises  are  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament 
reiterated  to  us,  “ He  hath  said,  I will  never  leave  thee,  nor 
forsake  thee  “ He  who  hath  begun  a good  work  in  you  will 
perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.”  It  is  thus  that  when 
assailed  by  spiritual  fears  or  despondency,  you  are  enabled  to 
look  from  yourself  to  Him  from  whom  cometh  your  help,  and 


LECTURE  I I. 


130 


who  has  said,  “ Look  unto  me  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of 
the  earth.”  This  is  the  believer’s  wisdom,  and  strength,  and 
happiness,  “looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our 
faith  knowing  that  he  is  faithful  who  has  promised,  and  that 
having  by  his  grace  called  you  even  while  you  were  enemies, 
and  guided  you  by  his  hand  through  many  a weary  mile  of 
this  world’s  wilderness,  he  will  not  desert  you  now  that  you 
are  reconciled  to  him  by  the  blood  of  his  Son.  Even  should 
your  faith  fail,  and  you  cry  unto  Him  out  of  the  depths  into 
which  you  are  beginning  to  sink,  his  hand  will  still  be  out- 
stretched to  save  ; and  though  the  dark  waters  are  passing  over 
your  soul,  he  will  place  you  upon  the  rock  which  is  higher 
than  you,  at  whose  base,  although  the  tempest  roar  and  the 
surges  beat,  “ eternal  sunshine  settles  round  its  head,”  where 
“light  is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and  gladness  for  the  upright 
in  heart.” 

In  pursuing  the  narrative,  we  find  that  Jacob,  sincerely  as 
he  believed,  and  greatly  as  he  rejoiced  in  all  the  promises  of 
God,  was  so  far  from  imagining  that  this  full  and  unqualified 
declaration  of  protection  on  the  part  of  the  Most  High  would 
justify  any  negligence  or  indifference  on  his  own,  that  the  first 
act  which  succeeded  the  wonderful  vision,  was  a solemn  dedi- 
cation of  the  place,  of  his  property,  and  of  himself,  to  the 
service  of  Jehovah.  For  we  read,  “ Jacob  rose  up  early  in 
the  morning,  and  took  the  stone  that  he  had  put  for  a pillow 
and  set  it  up  for  a pillar,  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it,  and 
called  the  name  of  the  place  Bethel.” 

In  other  words,  he  erected  a lasting  memorial  to  the  honour 
and  glory  of  that  gracious  Being  of  whose  presence  and  favour 
he  was  now  fully  assured  ; and  so  highly  did  the  Almighty 
estimate  this  evidence  of  his  devotion,  that  we  find  him  twenty 
years  afterwards  reminding  Jacob  of  this  act  and  of  this  hour, 
saying,  “ I am  the  God  of  Bethel,  where  thou  anointedst  the 
pillar a lesson  to  us,  my  Christian  brethren,  to  set  up  lasting 
memorials  of  the  Lord’s  merciful  and  prbvidential  dealings  with 
ourselves. 


140 


JACOB 


We  would  then  ask — has  your  heavenly  Father,  since  you 
last  assembled  during  this  holy  season  in  his  house  of  prayer, 
visited  you  with  many  temporal  and  spiritual  mercies?  Have 
your  worldly  circumstances  prospered,  and  has  his  hand  been 
upon  you  for  good  ? Have  you  tasted,  perhaps  drunk  deeply, 
of  the  cup  of  sorrow  or  of  sickness,  and  did  God  hear  your 
cry,  descend  to  your  assistance,  and  assuage  your  sorrows,  or 
give  an  unexpected  efficacy  to  human  means,  and  restore  you 
again  to  those  you  love  ? Or  does  the  retrospect  of  the  twelve- 
month which  is  past,  suggest  that  you  have  still  higher  blessings 
than  these  to  acknowledge  ; that  when  darker  shades  than  those 
which  surrounded  the  sleeping  Jacob  had  gathered  round  your 
soul,  a merciful  God  enlightened  your  spiritual  vision,  and 
pointed  out  to  you  the  only  way  of  access  to  himself,  and 
brought  you  near  by  the  blood  of  his  Son  ! O ! if  you  have 
been  partakers  of  these,  or  of  any  of  these  mercies,  we  trust 
that  you  have  set  up  some  memorials  of  them  ; the  deeply 
grateful  heart,  the  calm  yet  rejoicing  spirit,  the  truly  devoted 
life,  the  increased  and  lively  faith,  the  subdued  temper,  chas- 
tened will,  the  consistently  holy  conversation, — these  are  the 
Christian’s  “ waymarks,”  by  which  all  may  “ take  knowledge 
of  you  that  you  have  been  with  Jesus.” 

But  Jacob  did  not  content  himself  with  a single  act  of 
devotion,  however  excellent  or  appropriate,  for  we  are  told  that 
“ he  vowed  a vow  unto  God,  saying  : If  God  will  be  with  me 
and  keep  me  in  the  way  that  I go,  and  will  give  me  bread  to 
eat  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  I come  again  to  my  father’s 
house  in  peace,  then  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God.”  The  nature 
of  this  vow  was  equally  a proof  of  the  moderation  of  Jacob’s 
desires,  “ asking  only  bread  to  eat  and  raiment  to  put  on,”  and 
the  reality  of  his  faith  in  the  promises  which  had  Just  been 
vouchsafed  him ; the  vow  was  in  fact  an  echo  of  the  promise, 
not  intending  to  be  merely  conditional,  and  to  say,  “ If  God 
will  keep  me,  then  will  I serve  him,”  but  evidently  implying, 
since  God  has  pledged  himself  to  keep  me,  therefore  will  I 
devote  myself  wholly  to  his  service ; since  God  has  promised 


LECTURE  II. 


141 


to  be  with  me,  therefore  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God.”  It 
was  not,  then,  as  has  been  falsely  represented  by  the  enemies 
of  revelation,  the  shrewd  compact  of  an  avaricious  man  to  bind 
the  Deity  to  his  interest,  but  the  overflowing  of  a grateful  heart 
anxious  to  bind  itself  to  its  God  ; that  love  of  God,  which  pro- 
ceeds from  the  conviction  that  he  first  loved  us.  God  had 
revealed  himself  to  Jacob  as  a pardoning  God,  passing  by  the 
iniquity  of  his  penitent  confiding  servant,  and  the  effect  of  this 
manifestation  of  undeserved  mercy  and  love,  was  to  unite  the 
heart  of  that  servant  to  his  God  for  ever. 

My  brethren,  we  have  endeavoured  to  apply  the  spiritual 
lesson  taught  by  Jacob’s  pillar,  more  especially  to  you  who 
have  passed  through  trouble,  or  sickness  and  sorrow ; to  you, 
then,  we  would  also  desire  to  apply  Jacob’s  vow. 

Did  your  hour  of  trouble,  your  chamber  of  sorrow,  your  bed 
of  sickness,  witness  no  vows  ? Have  you  never,  in  adversity, 
said,  “ If  the  Lord  will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put 
on  or  in  sickness,  If  the  Lord  will  raise  me  up  again ; or 
in  spiritual  despondency.  If  the  Lord  will  keep  me  in  this 
way,  that  I may  come  to  my  Father’s  house — the  house  with 
many  mansions,  “ then  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God  ?”  And 
were  not  your  petitions  heard,  and  the  solicited  blessing  vouch- 
safed, and  the  hour  of  spiritual  despondency,  or  of  natural 
terror  and  alarm,  permitted  to  pass  away  ? How,  then,  have 
these  vows  been  kept  ? Have  they  been  “ as  a morning  cloud, 
and  as  the  early  dew  ?”  When  the  terror  of  the  grave  departed, 
did  the  resolutions  of  sickness  depart  with  it?  and  are  you  now 
eagerly  seeking  the  giddy  bustle  of  the  world,  to  brush  away 
the  few  lingering  remains  of  broken  vows  and  frustrated  inten- 
tions ? Suffer,  then,  the  present  example  to  act  as  a solemn 
memento  to  your  conscience ; believe  that  the  God  of  all  your 
mercies,  who  answered  your  prayers,  has  also  registered  your 
vows,  and  now  grieves  over  the  neglect  of  them  ; he,  of  whom 
you  once  said,  “Then  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God,”  sees  with 
a parent’s  feeling  that  you  have  forgotten  him,  and  sends  this 
message  of  love  to  your  soul,  still  willing  to  recall  his  wander- 


142 


JACOB. 


ing  child,  still  desirous  of  bringing  you  to  himself.  Remember 
those  hours  of  affliction  and  of  weakness ; remember  what  you 
would  then  have  felt,  could  you  have  been  assured  that  you 
should  have  been  in  this  place,  in  your  accustomed  health, 
to-day.  Twenty  years  after  Jacob  had  vowed,  God  expressly 
reminded  him  of  that  vow.  He  is  now  mercifully  doing  the 
same  to  you  ! O let  it  not  be  in  vain  ! Let  the  solemn  season 
which  is  before  you  be  employed  in  regaining  the  vantage 
ground  upon  which,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  you  once  stood ; 
retrace  your  steps,  recall  the  feelings  and  the  resolutions  of 
tliese  long  past  hours  ; dedicate  yourself  anew  to  the  service 
of  God ; come  once  more  to  the  fountain  opened  for  sin  and 
for  uncleanness,  and  devote  “ yourself,  your  soul  and  body,” 
to  the  glory  of  your  Redeemer.  Then,  indeed,  shall  the  Lord 
be  your  God,  equally  present  to  bless  and  comfort  you  in  health 
and  sickness,  in  sorrow  and  in  joy,  in  time  and  in  eternity ! 
Then  shall  you  find,  even  while  on  earth,  that  “peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding and  when  you  have  departed 
hence,  “ an  entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto  you  abundantly 
into  the  everlasting  kingdom  and  joy  of  your  Lord.”  But  if 
you  still  turn  a deaf  ear  to  him  that  speaketh  from  heaven ; if 
you  still  forget  what  God  has  done  for  you,  and  neglect  what 
you  have  promised  him,  we  would  solemnly  charge  it  upon 
your  conscience,  that  this  is  not  the  last  time  that  you  shall 
think  of  your  wasted  resolutions  and  of  your  broken  vows. 
You  shall  be  reminded  of  them  upon  another  day ! in  another 
place  ! by  another  speaker. 


LECTURE  III. 


;43 


LECTURE  III. 

Genesis  xxix.  20. 

And  Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel,  and  they  seemed  unto  him 
but  a few  days,  for  the  love  he  had  to  her.” 

At  the  close  of  the  last  Lecture,  we  left  Jacob  at  Bethel, 
where  the  Almighty  had  vouchsafed  him  so  encouraging  a 
vision,  and  where  he  had  dedicated  himself  to  the  service  of 
God  by  so  remarkable  a vow. 

Many  a weary  day’s  journey  still  lay  between  him  and  the 
place  of  his  destination,  and  much  of  uncertainty,  and  danger, 
and  fatigue,  overhung  his  solitary  path ; yet  such  was  the 
influence  of  the  blessed  assurances  of  the  divine  presence  and 
protection  which  he  received  on  that  first  night  of  his  pilgrim- 
age, that  he  proceeded  on  his  journey  the  following  morning 
with  feelings  of  alacrity  and  joy,  to  which  he  had  long  been  a 
stranger. 

The  29th  chapter,  at  which  we  resume  the  history,  com- 
mences by  saying,  “ Then  Jacob  went  on  his  journey.”  The 
marginal  reading  is,  “He  lift  up  his  feet,” — that  being  the  more 
literal  translation,  and  intending  to  convey  the  cheerfulness  of 
heart  to  which  we  have  alluded.  The  Jewish  commentary 
upon  the  verse  says,  “ His  heart  lifted  up  his  feet ;”  very  ex- 
pressive of  the  buoyancy  and  light-heartedness  with  which  he 
recommenced  his  travels.  We  may  learn  how  widely  the 
remainder  of  this  long  and  wearisome  journey  differed  from  the 
first  day’s  march,  by  the  brevity  with  which  the  inspired 
historian  recounts  it ; the  four  hundred  miles  are  despatched  in 
a single  verse  ; for  we  read,  “ Then  Jacob  went  on  his  journey, 
and  came  into  the  land  of  the  people  of  the  East.” 

You,  my  Christian  brethren,  who  were  able  to  sympathize 
in  our  last  Lecture  with  this  poor  traveller,  in  the  outset  of  his 
solitary  pilgrimage  ; who  have  known,  by  painful  experience, 
what  it  is  to  lie  down  with  a heart  ill  at  peace  with  God ; who 


144 


JACOB. 


have  been  perplexed  with  many  an  anxious  doubt  and  fear ; 
and,  perhaps,  have  carried  about  with  you,  for  months  and 
years  together,  a spirit  weighed  down  by  a sense  of  sin,  a heart 
which  alone  knew  its  own  bitterness  : but  who  have  now 
received  the  same  assurances  which  Jacob  did  of  forgiveness, 
of  consolation,  and  support,  and,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  have 
been  led  to  that  gracious  Redeemer  who  alone  can  bind  up  the 
heart  when  broken,  and  cheer  the  spirit  when  sorrowful,  and 
give  remission  of  sin,  you  will  readily  enter  into  the  feelings 
with  which  Jacob  recommenced  his  journey,  for  they  are  the 
same  blessed  feelings  with  which  you  yourselves  are  travelling. 
The  way  before  you  may  be  long  and  wearisome  ; there  may 
be  much  to  humble,  to  harass,  and  distress  you  ; but  if  your 
feet  be  indeed  “ shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of 
peace,”  and  you  have  for  a helmet  “ the  hope  of  salvation,”  we 
may  not  doubt  that  the  consolation  of  Jacob  will  be  your  own, 
and  that  if  your  spiritual  journey  were  hereafter  to  become  the 
subject  of  the  chronicler,  it  might,  in  most  instances,  be  described 
in  terms  as  satisfactory,  though  as  brief  as  these,  “ They  went 
on  their  journey,  and  they  have  entered  into  the  land.” 

No  sooner  do  we  find  Jacob  arriving  at  the  place  of  his 
destination,  than  we  perceive  that  the  same  Providence  which 
had  guided  him  thither,  is  still  “ about  his  path,”  ordering  and 
arranging  all  things  for  his  future  happiness.  The  first  persons 
with  whoni  he  meets,  are  a company  of  shepherds,  assembling 
with  their  flocks  for  the  purpose  of  watering  the  sheep ; and 
while  entering  into  conversation  with  them  in  the  free  and 
unrestrained  manner  natural  in  those  unsophisticated  ages  of 
the  world,  divine  Providence  brings  to  the  spot  the  very  person 
for  whom  (as  the  Almighty  had  designed)  the  journey  of  Jacob 
had  been  undertaken — Rachel  the  daughter  of  Laban,  his 
mother’s  brother.  No  sooner  did  Jacob  behold  her,  than,  pro- 
bably prepossessed  by  her  appearance,  for  we  are  told  that  she 
was  “beautiful  and  well-favoured,”  and  certainly  deeply  touched 
by  the  merciful  kindness  of  God  in  thus  unexpectedly  bringing 
his  journey  to  a favourable  issue,  while  he  embraced  her,  he 


LECTURE  III. 


145 


“ lifted  up  his  voice  and  wept” — tears  of  bitterness  for  his  own 
faithless  misgivings — tears  of  joy,  that  his  difficulties,  were 
now  at  an  end,  and  that  the  object  of  his  mission  was  thus,  as 
it  appeared  to  him,  so  speedily  to  be  obtained. 

“ Arise,  my  son,  flee  to  Laban,  my  brother,  to  Haran,  and 
tarry  with  him  a few  clays^  until  thy  brother’s  fury  turn  away, 
then  I will  send  and  fetch  thee  from  thence,”  had  been  his 
mother’s  parting  speech.  When  he  therefore  had  seen  and 
loved  Rachel,  and  had  been  brought  into  the  house  of  Laban, 
and  dwelt  with  him  a few  weeks,  he  must  have  believed  that 
every  day  would  be  the  last,  and  that  he  should  soon  receive 
the  wished -for  message  of  recall.  Well  spake  the  prophet 
Jeremiah,  when  he  said,  “ O Lord,  I know  that  the  way  of 
man  is  not  in  himself ; it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct 
his  steps.”  Jacob  entered  the  house  of  Laban  for  a few  days 
— he  remained  there  twenty  years.  Truly  has  the  word  of 
God  declared,  “ we  know  not  what  a day  may  bring  forth 
we  know  not  what  “ shall  be  on  the  morrow.”  Most  kind  and 
merciful  that  it  is  so — sin  has  introduced  too  much  of  misery 
into  the  daily  cup  which  all  are  called  upon  to  drink,  without 
mingling  the  poison  of  to-morrow  with  the  draught  of  to-()ay. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  much  of  sweet  as  well  as  bitter  in  the 
Christian’s  cup  ; that  if  the  word  of  God  has  said,  “ the  heart 
knoweth  his  own  bitterness  it  has  also  said,  that  “a  stranger 
doth  not  intermeddle  with  his  joy  that  “joy  and  peace”  are 
among  the  promised  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  but  alas  ! they  are 
fruits  which  never  ripen  thoroughly  here  below ; they  require 
a brighter  climate  and  a warmer  sun  to  bring  them  to  perfection : 
and  the  dearest  child  of  God  will  never  know  their  full  flavour, 
until  he  partake  of  them  in  that  blessed  country,  “ where  the 
sun  shall  no  more  go  down,”  and  “ where  the  Lord  shall  be 
their  everlasting  light:”  where  “the  tree  of  life,”  on  which 
alone  these  fruits  grow  in  rich  profusion,  “yields  her  fruits 
every  month,  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.”  There  these  blessed  fruits  of  the  Spirit  will 
indeed  be  fully  ripened,  the  sinful  anxieties  which  a corrupt 

13 


146 


JACOB. 


heart  will,  even  to  the  end,  be  continually  fostering,  will  be 
removed,  and  the  distracting  sorrows  which  at  some  period  or 
other  introduce  pain  and  misery  into  the  bosom  of  the  holiest 
of  the  people  of  God,  will  then  be  plucked  out  and  cast  away 
for  ever. 

In  entering  the  dwelling  of  Laban,  Jacob  had  entered  the 
dwelling  of  a covetous  man,  and  an  idolater,  who,  although  he 
had  not  renounced  a nominal  dependence  upon  God,  had  for- 
saken the  true  spiritual  worship  of  him.  In  the  company,  and 
especially  in  the  service  of  such  a man,  there  was  little  good 
to  be  expected  ; and  we  accordingly  find  that  after  Jacob  had 
been  with  him  a month,  Laban,  under  the  most  plausible  pro- 
fessions of  disinterestedness,  secures  the  service  of  his  helpless 
relative,  by  agreeing  that  Jacob  should  serve  him  seven  years 
before  he  bestows  upon  him  the  promised  Rachel.  To  Jacob 
this  portion  of  his  servitude  passed  happily  and  contentedly 
and  was,  probably,  the  most  innocent  and  the  least  disastrous 
period  of  his  life.  Every  thought  of  the  difficulties  of  his 
situation,  of  the  labours  and  the  toils  which  were  increasingly 
gathering  around  him,  was  forgotten  in  the  one  heart-engrossing 
feeling  which  possessed  him  ; so  did  this  sweeten  every  trouble, 
and  enhance  every  enjoyment,  that  the  inspired  writer  assures 
us,  “ Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel,  and  they  seemed  to 
him  but  a few  days,  for  the  love  he  had  to  her.”  No  other 
feeling  of  the  human  mind  could  have  so  shortened  and  sweet- 
ened the  term  of  that  lengthened  bondage.  Ambition,  avarice, 
fear,  and  a host  of  similar  passions,  will  all  make  the  bond- 
slave  obedient  to  the  beck  of  the  hardest  taskmaker,  and  ready 
to  labour  even  in  the  fires  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  object; 
but  there  is  none,  save  love,  the  master- passion  of  the  human 
heart,  which  can  enable  its  possessor  to  render  not  only  a 
willing,  but  a happy  and  joyful  obedience ; which  makes  him 
feel  every  demand  upon  his  time,  his  thoughts,  his  energies, 
as  too  small,  too  poor,  to  bestow  : which  induces  him,  when  he 
lias  done  all  and  more  than  all  that  is  demanded,  to  feel  sorrow- 
ful only  that  more  had  not  been  required,  that  he  might  have 


LECTURE  III. 


147 


borne  still  stronger  witness  to  the  inexhaustible  feeling  from 
v.'hich  his  obedience  flows. 

My  brethren ! for  what,  do  you  imagine,  the  great  Author  of 
our  being  implanted  in  us  so  astonishing  and  so  resistless  a 
feeling  ? To  lavish  it  iij)on  the  poor  sinful  creatures  by  whom 
we  are  surrounded  ? To  waste  it  upon  some  fickle  object  of 
our  fond  and  foolish  caprice,  which,  like  the  gourd  of  Jonah, 
“ comes  up  in  a night  and  perishes  in  a night?’*  Is  this  pro- 
bable ; is  it  possible?  O no ! The  whole  tenor  of  God's 
revealed  word  convinces  us  that  He  who  made  the  human  heart 
and  endowed  it  with  this  extraordinary  capacity,  made  it  and 
endowed  it  expressly  for  himself.  That  every  application  of 
these  all-powerful  feelings  which  is  not  in  complete  subserviency 
to  the  one  great  purpose  of  their  existence — the  love  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord — is  an  act  of  robbery  towards  God. 
He  has  said,  “ My  son,  give  me  ihy  heart  and  he  must 
possess  the  whole  heart,  or  he  will  reject  the  blemished  sacri- 
fice. All  religion  is  intended  to  produce  this  principle  of  love  ; 
a grateful  love  to  God,  because  “ he  first  loved  us,”  and  has 
enabled  us,  through  the  promise  in  his  dear  Son,  to  look  for- 
ward to  the  “ recompense  of  the  reward  and  a fervent  dis- 
interested love  of  God  from  the  knowledge  of  his  attributes 
and  his  character  revealed  to  us  in  Jesus  Christ  as  altogether 
lovely.  He  who  has  given  you  a heart  abundantly  qualified 
to  love,  thus  offers  himself  to  you  as  the  only  object  upon 
whom  that  feeling,  infinite  as  are  its  stores,  may  exhaust  itself 
without  sinfulness,  and  without  excess.  Other  objects  may, 
and  indeed  ought  to  be  loved,  dearly,  fondly,  and  unceasingly ; 
but  God  alone  is  to  be  loved  with  all  the  unbounded  feelings 
of  the  heart.  This  is  his  language  of  mercy  to  every  child  of 
his  blessed  family : “For  you  I have  given  my  Son,  my  own 
and  only  begotten  Son ; and  I myself  am  ready  to  draw  you  to 
him : that  you  may  know  and  receive  him  : though  you  have 
sinned,  I do  not  desire  your  punishment ; though  you  have 
forfeited  life,  I have  no  pleasure  in  your  death : come  unto  him 
that  you  may  be  saved  ! All  I ask  of  you  is,  that  you  should 


148 


JACOB. 


love  me  with  all  your  heart,  and  with  all  your  soul,  and  with 
all  your  strength.” 

This  is  the  test  of  vital  religion  ; the  great  and  palpable  dis- 
tinction between  the  man  of  God  and  the  man  of  the  world. 
Both  may  worship  in  the  same  temple — offer  the  same  prayers 
— ^kneel  at  the  same  altar  ; while  the  latter  feels  nothing,  knows 
nothing,  thinks  nothing  of  this  love  to  God,  and  the  former  not 
only  loves  him,  but  with  so  much  sincerity  and  ardour,  that 
he  is  able  to  say  with  the  Psalmist,  “ Whom  have  I in  heaven 
but  thee,  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I desire  in  compari- 
son of  thee.”  Can  we  conceive  a greater  difference  than  must 
be  perceptible  to  the  eye  of  God  between  two  such  worshippers  ! 
If  there  be  a proof  needed  of  the  great  internal  change  which 
must  take  place  in  every  human  heart  before  it  is  fitted  for  the 
society  of  heaven,  and  an  eternal  residence  near  the  throne  of 
the  Almighty,  surely  an  awful  proof  is  here  ; only  make  the 
subject  before  you  one  of  individual,  of  personal  inquiry,  and 
you  will  confess  that  there  is.  You  did  not  by  nature  love 
God  ; perhaps  you  do  not  now  love  him  ; then  it  is  evident 
that  you  could  not  be  happy  in  his  company,  that  you  could 
not  rejoice  to  find  yourself  in  his  immediate  presence.  Alas  ! 
then,  you  are  not  educating  for  heaven ; your  feelings  are  not 
in  unison  with  those  of  its  inhabitants  ; your  heart  could  not 
rejoice,  or  your  voice  harmonize  with  theirs.  You  would  feel 
yourself  a stranger  in  the  midst  of  that  loved  and  loving  multi- 
tude ; you  could  not  unite  with  them  in  the  new  song ; the 
never-ceasing  praises  of  their  boundless  love  would  be  discord 
to  your  ears. 

Think  seriously  of  this,  I beseech  you,  my  beloved  brethren  ; 
probe  yourselves  deeply  to  ascertain  whether  the  religion  you 
profess  has  taken  root  in  your  affections^  the  seat  of  all  true 
and  scriptural  religion.  Is  the  heart  influenced  by  it  ? Does 
it  burn  within  you  at  the  thoughts  of  these  things  ? or  is  it 
alive  to  every  other  theme — kindling  at  the  name  of  other 
friends,  but  cold,  languid,  dead  to  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  the 
soul-inspiring  themes  of  God  and  heaven  ? It  is  melancholy 


LECTURE  III. 


149 


to  think  how  much  of  the  semblance  of  spiritual  life  may  exist, 
while  the  reality  is  absent.  'Fhere  may  be  a regular  attendance 
upon  all  tlie  outward  duties  of  religion,  there  may  be  a con- 
scientious observance  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  God,  and 
an  habitual  respect,  and  reverence,  and  fear  of  him,  while 
there  is  not  a single  spark  of  heartfelt,  influential  love,  sanctify- 
ing every  thought,  and  word,  and  work,  to  the  glory  of  God. 

It  was  the  possession  of  this  feeling  which  so  eminently 
characterized  the  early  disciples  of  our  Lord,  which  enabled 
them  to  estimate  the  heaviest  trials,  the  severest  persecutions, 
which  man  could  invent,  as  “ the  light  affliction  which  is  but 
for  a moment,”  compared  with  the  exceeding  and  eternal  weight 
of  glory,  which  they  were  anticipating.  It  was  the  thought  of 
“ being  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better”  than  the  happiest 
portion  here  below,  that  gilded  all  their  s^ufferings  and  made 
them  ardently  long,  while  they  patiently  waited,  for  their  sum- 
mons into  the  presence  of  him  of  whom  the  apostle  says, 
“ Unto  you  therefore  which  believe  he  is  precious  If  you 
are  conscious  that  you  do  not  possess  this  love  of  God,  seek  it 
early  and  late,  search  for  it  as  a hidden  treasure  until  you  find 
it ; you  cannot  find  it  except  you  be  at  peace  with  God  through 
Jesus  Christ ; for  you  cannot  love  even  a fellow-creature  be- 
cause you  are  told,  or  because  you  think  it  a duty  to  love ; 
you  must  first  see  something  attractive  in  the  object  of  love,  or 
you  must  be  sensible  that  you  yourself  are  loved  ; thus  is  it 
also  with  regard  to  God.  You  cannot  love  him  because  the 
Bible  commands  you,  or  because  the  preacher  urges  you  ; you 
cannot  love  him  until  you  know  him  as  the  Being  full  of  kind- 
ness, full  of  mercy,  which  he  really  is ; until  you  believe  what 
he  has  himself  assured  you,  that  “God  is  love;”  until  you 
have  a good  hope  through  grace,  that  he  has  “ blotted  out  as  a 
thick  cloud  your  transgressions,  and  as  a cloud  your  sins,”  and 
beholds  you  with  tender  compassion  through  the  Son  of  his 
love,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Obtain  this  blissful  feeling,  and 
it  will  amply  repay  you  for  all  the  anxieties  of  the  search. 
Nay,  if  you  are  even  required  to  sow  for  it  in  tears,  the  Iiarvest 
VS* 


150 


JACOB. 


will  richly  reward  you,  for  you  will  reap  in  joy.  Religion 
will  no  longer  be  a gloomy  subject,  or  its  duties  a hard  service ; 
you  will  be  called  indeed  to  labour,  but  it  will  be  a labour  of 
love  ; you  will  be  constrained  to  walk  in  the  “ strait  and  narrow 
way,”  but  it  will  be  “ the  love  of  Christ  which  constraineth 
you and  though,  like  Jacob,  your  years  of  servitude  may  be 
many  and  your  labours  numerous,  you  will  in  the  end,  with 
sincerity  and  joy,  declare,  like  him,  that  they  have  “seemed 
but  a few  days,”  for  the  love  you  have  to  that  being  for  whom 
you  laboured. 

In  resuming  the  narrative  before  us,  we  find  that  Jacob  had 
still  new  lessons  to  learn  in  that  painful  and  humiliating  truth 
upon  which  we  dwelt  in  our  last  discourse  : “ Be  sure  your 
sin  will  find  you  out.”  The  seven  years  of  servitude  are, 
indeed,  over,  but  Rachel,  the  promised  reward,  is  still  withheld, 
liaban,  bya  most  wicked  and  abominable  fraud,  deceives  Jacob 
into  the  marriage  of  Leah,  the  elder  sister ; mocking  him,  when 
the  deceit  had  proved  successful,  by  a reference  to  a custom, 
which  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  never  existed,  viz.,  that 
the  younger  daughter  could  not  be  married  before  the  first-born. 

It  was  thus  that  he,  who  had  deceived  his  own  father,  receives 
the  punishment  of  his  sin,  by  being  deceived  in  turn  by  his 
father-in-law — thus  that  Jacob  was  to  learn  that  the  Lord  will 
not  away  with  the  iniquities  of  his  people  ; that  though  they 
“ find  a place  for  repentance,”  and  are  again  accepted  in  the 
Beloved,  the  Almighty  teaches  them,  as  Gideon  “ taught  the 
men  of  Succoth,”  by  “ the  thorns  and  briar with  which  he 
scourged  them,  that  they  have  “ erred  and  strayed  from  his  • 
ways  like  lost  sheep  ;”  that,  if  they  will  wander  from  the  fold, 
although,  “ the  good  Shepherd  knows  his  sheep,”  and  “ will 
leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after  that 
which  is  lost,  until  he  find  it,  and  when  he  hath  found  it,  he 
layeth  it  on  his  shoulders  rejoicing,”  yet  they  must  not  be  sur- 
prised to  be  brought  back  wounded  and  lacerated,  smarting  from 
the  effects  of  their  own  folly  and  sin. 

A new  term  of  servitude  now  opens  upon  Jacob,  who,  though 


LECTURE  III. 


151 


permitted  to  many  the  beloved  Rachel,  is  required  to  labour  for 
his  avaricious  kinsman  seven  years  longer,  at  the  close  of 
which  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  him,  under  the  divine  direc- 
tion, anxiously  desiring  to  depart — “ Send  me  aw^ay,”  is  the 
language  of  Jacob,  “ that  I may  go  unto  mine  own  place,  and 
to  my  country.”  Jacob  had  in  Laban’s  house  obtained  his 
wives,  and  his  children,  and  his  cattle,  and  he  was  now  in  a 
situation  to  establish  himself  with  respectability  in  any  quarter 
of  the  land — but  he  remembered  that  this  was  not  his  promised 
home ; that  the  God  of  his  fathers  had  revealed  to  him,  that  the 
land  on  which  he  lay  at  Bethel,  the  whole  land  of  Canaan,  should 
be  the  possession  of  himself  and  of  his  seed  for  ever. 

In  this  declaration,  therefore,  of  Jacob,  “ Send  me  away, 
that  I may  go  to  my  own  country.”  there  was  something  more 
than  the  mere  longing  of  the  natural  man  for  the  land  of  his 
nativity  ; we  behold  in  it  the  strong  and  influential  faith  of  these 
ancient  patriarchs,  believing  implicitly  the  promises  of  their 
God,  that  the  land,  of  which  not  an  acre  belonged  to  them, 
should  in  due  time,  be  wholly  theirs ; that  their  seed  should  be 
as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  that  from  their  loins  should  spring 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  was  thus,  that  not  only  Abraham, 
but  Jacob,  also,  “ rejoiced  to  see  Christ’s  day,  and  saw  it  and 
was  glad.”  In  looking  to  Canaan,  they  looked  to  heaven, 
which  is  typified,  and  seeing  those  promises  afar  off,  “ they 
were  persuaded  of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed 
that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth,”  and  that 
they  “ desired  a better  country,  that  is,  an  heavenly.” 

Such  is  the  beautiful  comment  of  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews, 
upon  the  faith  of  the  patriarchs.  My  Christian  brethren,  these 
were  the  feelings  which  made  Jacob  desire,  as  soon  as  his  ser- 
vices were  finished,  to  be  dismissed,  that  he  might  return  to 
his  country  and  his  home.  And  ought  not  these  to  be  super- 
eminently the  feelings  of  you  upon  whom  the  ends  of  (he 
world  are  closing  ? Does  not  your  daily  experience,  as  well 
as  the  word  of  God,  assure  ygu  that  “ here  you  have  no  con- 
tinuing city  ?”  Can  you  truly  say,  that  you  are  “ seeking  one 


152 


JACOB. 


to  come  ?”  Doubtless  the  ties  by  which  Jacob  was  bound  to 
the  land  in  which  he  had  lived  so  long,  and,  in  some  respects, 
so  happily,  were  powerful  and  numerous  ; but  all  those  ties 
were  broken  at  the  thoughts  of  Canaan,  and  the  desire  of  being 
there.  None  of  5mu  whom  I address,  are  without  some  ties 
which  fetter  you  to  earth  ; but,  while  as  Christians  you  delight 
yourself  in  them,  (as  the  mercy  of  our  heavenly  Father  permits 
and  intended,)  jealously  watch  lest  they  bind  you  too  closely 
to  earth, — lest  they  keep  you  too  far  from  heaven.  Beware 
that  the  gifts  widen  not  the  space  between  you  and  the  Giver  ! 
that  a beloved  parent,  husband,  or  child,  engross  not  your 
whole  heart,  and  induce  an  overweening  desire  to  linger  in  the 
land  of  your  servitude.  “ This  is  not  your  rest,”  is  sounded 
in  our  ears  by  every  passing  bell ; are  you  then  striving  to  hold 
these  ties  so  loosely,  that  at  the  word  of  your  God,  you  could 
be  content  to  separate  them  for  ever?  This  is,  indeed,  no  less 
your  interest,  than  your  duty  ; for  doubly  painful  will  be  the 
pang  of  separation,  if  it  come  unlooked  for,  and  find  you  un- 
prepared. Learn  to  think  habitually  of  these  earthly  blessings, 
not  as  the  gifts,  but  as  the  loans  of  your  heavenly  Father, 
which  may  be  resumed  at  any  moment  that  his  sovereign  will 
shall  call  for  them  ; and,  to  obtain  these  feelings,  live  continu- 
ally as  on  the  threshold  of  heaven,  “ looking  for,  and  hastening 
unto,  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,”  cultivating  that  unworldly 
posture  of  mind,  and  spirituality  of  heart,  and,  above  all,  that 
love  for  your  Redeemer,  which  will  enable  you,  when  (like 
the  beloved  apostle)  you  hear  the  voice  of  your  Lord,  saying, 
“ Surely  I come  quickly,”  to  reply  with  sincerity  and  jo}^ 
“ Even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus.”  Thus,  when  the  close  of  your 
services  here  on  earth  has  arrived,  and  you  have  done  the  work 
which  God  has  given  you  to  do,  there  will  be  no  impatient 
repining,  no  querulous  desire  for  a little  longer  respite  ; it  will 
be  enough  for  you  to  know,  that  He  who  has  condescended  to 
employ  you  has  no  further  need  of  your  services  here  below, 
but  that  “ there  remaineth  a rest  for”  you  among  “ the  people 
of  God,”  and  the  language  of  your  heart  will  be,  in  all  meek- 


LECTURE  IV. 


153 


noss  and  humility,  “ Lord,  send  me  away,  that  I may  go  to  the 
place  and  to  the  country”  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  me, 
through  the  love  of  thy  dear  Son. 


LECTURE  IV. 

Genesis  xxxii.  11. 

Deliver  me,  I pray  Thee,  from  the  hand  of  my  brother,  from  the  hand 
of  Esau.’’ 

Engaged  as  we  have  now  been  for  some  time  past,  in  con- 
sidering the  important  passages  in  the  life  of  Jacob,  we  cannot 
help  experiencing  feelings  of  disappointment,  that  we  have 
never  yet  beheld  him  in  any  situation,  of  which  we  could  truly 
say,  “This  is  happiness.”  We  commenced  his  life  with  the 
prophetical  assurances  that  God  should  give  to  Jacob  “ of  the 
dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  plenty  of  com 
and  wine that,  cursed  should  be  every  one  that  cursed  him, 
and  blessed  every  one  that  blessed  him  ; and  yet,  throughout 
the  whole  period  of  which  we  have  hitherto  spoken,  although 
more  than  fourscore  years  had  passed  over  him,  we  have  found 
him  still  a dependent,  enjoying,  indeed,  much  of  the  protecting 
presence  and  guidance  of  his  God,  but  by  no  means  distin- 
guished for  worldly  affluence  or  prosperity. 

We  are  now,  however,  to  behold  him  in  a new  character, 
as  a wealthy  man,  accompanied  by  his  wives  and  numerous 
family,  surrounded  by  his  oxen  and  his  asses,  his  men-servants 
and  his  maid-servants,  and  returning  to  his  own  country  and 
his  own  place. 

If  we  have,  in  the  former  part  of  Jacob’s  history,  had  occa- 
sion to  observe  how  little  cause  there  is  for  repining,  although 
our  lot  be  placed  among  the  poor  and  the  destitute,  so  long  as 
we  possess  a well-grounded  hope  that  the  Lord  is  our  God,  and 
we  are  his  people,  we  shall  now  have  equal  reason  to  remark, 


154 


JACOB. 


how  little  cause  there  is  for  exulting,  although  the  highest 
worldly  advantages  be  our  own,  unless  accompanied  by  the 
same  blessing,  the  continual  presence,  and  abiding  influence  of 
our  Heavenly  Father,  reconciled  by  the  blood  of  his  Son. 

We  learn,  from  the  beginning  of  the  82d  chapter,  that  Jacob, 
having  entirely  freed  himself  from  Laban,  and  about  to  return 
to  his  father’s  house,  was  obliged  to  pass  through  the  country 
of  Edom,  which  was  in  the  possession  of  his  brother  Esau. 
The  last  tidings  which  we  heard  of  Esau,  were,  that  deeply 
exasperated  at  the  duplicity  of  Jacob,  he  had  resolved  to  take 
away  his  life.  It  was  to  escape  this  peril  that  Jacob  had  been 
so  long  an  alien  and  an  outcast  from  the  parental  roof ; while, 
therefore,  we  feel  how  striking  an  evidence  it  offers  of  Jacob’s 
implicit  trust  in  the  Almighty,  that,  at  the  command  of  God,  he 
should  thus  venture  unarmed  through  the  territories  of  one  so 
hostile  and  so  powerful  as  his  unreconciled  brother,  we  cannot 
help  feeling  considerable  anxiety  as  to  the  manner  in  which  he 
will  be  received.  Will  Esau,  now  that  the  hour  of  vengeance, 
for  which  he  had  so  long  waited,  has  arrived — will  he  fulfil  the 
threatening,  which  has  been  for  twenty  years  in  abeyance,  and 
destroy  the  helpless  Jacob,  his  wives,  and  his  little  ones,  and 
possess  himself  of  the  prey  ? Or  will  the  natural  sympathies 
of  our  nature  be  awakened  within  his  bosom,  and  induce  him 
to  meet  his  enemy  and  his  supplanter,  as  a brother  and  a friend  ? 

If  we,  my  brethren,  cannot  but  feel  some  interest  in  the 
result  of  these  inquiries,  what  must  have  been  felt  by  Jacob  ? 
It  requires  but  little  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  to  be  assured 
that  a time  of  intense  anxiety  and  trial  was  approaching  him, 
and  that  the  possession  of  all  the  worldly  advantages  with 
which  the  Almighty  had  so  lately  blessed  him,  would  rather 
tend  to  increase,  than  diminish  those  anxieties,  by  holding  out 
only  a richer  booty  to  the  sword  of  Esau  and  his  followers. 

During  his  years  of  servitude,  doubtless  Jacob  had  often 
thought — If  these  weary  years  were  over — if  I had  but  obtained 
Rachel  for  my  wife,  and  the  affluence  which  the  Almighty  has 
promised  me  for  my  worldly  portion,  how  perfect  would  be  mj' 


LECTURE  IV, 


155 


happiness  ; how  utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  any  outward  (dr- 
cumstances  to  affect  or  trouble  it?  Both  these  desires  had  now 
been  granted  ; Rachel  had  become  his  wife,  and  the  wealth  of 
Laban  had,  by  the  remarkable  interpositions  of  the  Almighty, 
passed  into  Jacob’s  hands  ; but  where  was  the  unruffled  hap- 
piness for  which  he  had  panted  ? Like  the  horizon,  it  had  fled 
from  his  approach  ! 

And  is  it  not  thus,  my  brethren,  with  many  among  your- 
selves ? Have  you  not  often  placed  some  wished  for  object 
before  your  eyes  ; some  darling  scheme ; some  eagerly  antici- 
pated connexion  ; some  expected  aggrandizement  of  wealth  or 
station,  with  the  acquirement  of  which,  you  confidently  believe, 
that  all  your  desires  will  be  fulfilled,  and  your  worldly  happi- 
ness be  unspeakably  promoted  ? It  is  in  vain  we  tell  you  that 
you  will  assuredly  be  disappointed  ; that  you  carry  an  immortal 
soul  within  you  which  nothing  infinite,  nothing  transitory,  can 
fully  satisfy  ; this  is  one  of  those  points  upon  which  the  words 
of  the  preacher  are  wholly  inefficient.  Experience  will  con- 
vince you,  but  nothing  short  of  this  can  avail.  If  we  were 
even  able  to  demonstrate  that  it  had  been  so  in  every  other 
instance,  you  would  still  believe  your  own  case  to  be  an  excep- 
tion ; you  would  say.  My  hopes  are  built  upon  a better  founda- 
tion ; I know  what  I am  expecting ; I have  well  considered  its 
incalculable  advantages ; I have  not  entirely  excluded  the 
Almighty  from  my  visions  of  future  happiness,  and  therefore  I 
do  not  fear  that  they  should  disappoint  me.  Alas  ! you  will 
not  know  until  you  enter  upon  the  possession  of  this  anticipated 
happiness,  how  little  the  Almighty  has,  in  reality,  been  con- 
sidered in  these  scenes  of  worldly  bliss,  and  how  much  the 
pleasures  of  time  and  sense  have  predominated.  What,  then, 
will  be  the  inevitable  consequence  ? That  if  you  are  a child 
of  God  you  will  assuredly  experience  disappointment  in  every 
enjoyment  short  of  God  himself.  There  will  always  be  some 
trials  or  some  alarm,  meeting  you  (like  Jacob)  before  the  first 
dawn  of  bliss  has  passed  away,  to  convince  you  of  its  insuffi- 
ciency, and  to  prevent  you  from  resting  in  it.  Wherever  you 


J5G 


JACOB. 


propose  to  nestle,  there  your  heavenly  Father  will  plant  a thorn  ; 
until  you  are  driven,  like  a bird,  from  spray  to  spray,  and  from 
leaf  to  leaf,  and  taught  by  painful  experience,  that  God,  and 
God  alone,  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  the  “ dwelling- 
place*^  of  his  people. 

But  we  must  return  to  Jacob,  that  we  may  learn  by  his 
example  to  prepare  for  the  trials  which  we  cannot  avert.  We 
are  told  that  he  first  sends  messengers  to  Esau  to  endeavour  to 
deprecate  his  resentment,  and  to  obtain  his  favour,  “ and  he 
commanded  them,  saying.  Thus  shall  ye  speak  unto  my  lord 
Esau,  Thy  servant  Jacob  saith  thus,  I have  sojourned  with 
Laban  and  stayed  there  until  now  ; and  I have  oxen,  and  asses, 
and  flocks,  and  men-servants,  and  women  servants  ; and  1 have 
sent  to  tell  my  lord,  that  I may  find  grace  in  thy  sight.” 

If  the  most  unaffected  courtesy  united  to  the  most  sincere 
humility,  could  have  availed  to  soften  the  heart  of  Esau,  surely 
this  message  of  kindness  must  have  brought  back  an  answer  of 
affection  and  forgiveness  : but  no  such  effects  were  produced. 
The  messengers  returned  to  Jacob  without  a word  of  tender- 
ness in  reply ; nay,  rather  with  intelligence  which  might  have 
appalled  the  boldest  heart — “ We  came  to  thy  brother  Esau, 
and  also  he  cometh  to  meet  thee,  and  four  hundred  men 
with  him.'*'*  This  was  indeed  most  fearful  news  for  Jacob ; 
truly  it  verified  the  experience  of  the  Psalmist  in  after  days : 
“ 1 labour  for  peace,  but  when  I speak  to  them  thereof  they 
make  them  ready  to  battle.”  “ Then  Jacob  was  greatly  afraid 
and  distressed,  and  he  divided  the  people  that  were  with  him 
into  two  bands,  and  said.  If  Esau  come  to  the  one  company 
and  smite  it,  then  the  other  company  which  is  left  shall  escape.” 
Thus  leaving  no  human  means  unattempted  to  avert  the  im- 
pending calamity,  uniting  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  to  the 
confiding  simplicity  of  the  dove,  and  by  this  wise  and  prudent 
arrangement,  ensuring  (however  hostile  might  be  the  intentions 
of  his  brother)  the  safety  of  at  least  a portion  of  his  family  and 
his  property. 

It  may  perhaps  be  said,  all  the  means  adopted  by  this  man 


LECTURE  IV. 


157 


of  God  might  have  been  adopted  by  any  other  man  under 
similar  circumstances.  They  were  proofs  indeed  of  forethought, 
prudence,  and  a sufficient  degree  of  worldly  wisdom,  but  there 
is  nothing  which  evidences  the  superiority  of  the  godly  man 
over  the  worldly  man  in  all  this.  My  brethren,  we  acknow- 
ledge it;  and  we  will  acknowledge  it  in  more  than  one  in- 
stance before  us ; we  will  confess  that  the  observation  would 
equally  hold  good  in  other  cases  as  in  the  subject  of  our  present 
history.  We  readily  admit  that  there  are  many  circumstances 
in  life,  in  which,  to  the  outward  observer,  the  real  Christian 
and  the  merely  moral  and  upright  man  of  the  world,  appear  to 
act  from  similar  motives  and  with  equal  wisdom  ; there  are 
even  some  in  which  the  worldly  man  will  appear  to  the  greater 
advantage,  and  seem  to  take  the  higher  ground,  and  to  act  per- 
haps with  more  decision  and  magnanimity  than  the  Christian ; 
and  had  you  beheld  Jacob  marshalling  his  families,  his  flocks, 
and  hts  herds,  on  the  present  occasion,  this  might  have  been 
your  opinion  of  the  incident  before  us.  The  bold  man  would 
have  said.  Why  did  Jacob  thus  cowardly  make  arrangements 
only  for  defeat  ? Why  did  he  not  endeavour  to  defend  what 
was  so  justly  dear  to  him  ? The  timid  man  might  have  said. 
Why,  when  in  such  imminent  peril,  did  he  not  at  once  turn 
and  fly,  and  thus,  since  opposition  was  so  evidently  useless, 
secure  all  that  God  had  given  him  ! My  brethren,  the  Chris- 
tian’s answer  to  both  these  inquiries  is  equally  obvious — Jacob 
was  in  the  path  of  duty,  following  the  directions  and  marching 
under  the  commands  of  his  heavenly  leader,  therefore  he  could 
not  fly.  But  Jacob  had  already  learnt,  by  bitter  experience, 
the  danger  of  hastening  blessings  by  unjustifiable  exertions  ; 
he  had  seen  that  the  weapons  of  human  warfare,  violence, 
deceit,  and  subtlety,  did  but  injure  the  cause  they  attempted  to 
promote  ; he  had  deeply  and  justly  suffered  formerly  for  obtain- 
ing the  blessing  by  an  arm  of  flesh,  he  was  resolved  not  to 
promote  the  fulfilment  of  it  by  the  same  unhallowed  means, 
therefore  he  could  not  fight.  The  bystander  could  enter  into 

14 


158 


JACOB. 


neither  of  these  motives,  and  miglit  therefore  fairly  make  the 
objections  we  have  imagined. 

It  is  thus  that  the  Christian  so  often  appears  contemptible  in 
the  eyes  of  the  men  of  this  world.  They  cannot  appreciate 
his  conduct,  because  they  know  not  the  laws  by  which  he  is 
governed.  For  instance,  you  are  in  difficulties,  and  a single 
step  would  place  you  beyond  the  reach  of  them — a trivial  act 
of  injustice,  or  a little  equivocation,  known  only  to  your  own 
conscience  and  to  God,  or  the  evincing  what  is  termed  a proper 
spirit,  would  at  once  emancipate  you  : to  the  mere  man  of  the 
world  it  is  perfectly  inexplicable  that  you  do  not  take  this  step ; 
he  sees  no  impediment,  and  therefore  cannot  conceive  that  any 
thing  but  obtuseness  of  intellect,  or  weakness  of  judgment, 
could  make  you  hesitate.  These  are  cases  very  trying  to  the 
feelings  of  the  natural  heart ; you  perceive  as  clearly  as  those 
around  you,  the  advantages  which  a little  deviation  from  the 
strait  and  narrow  way  would  purchase  you.  But  then  you 
“ hear  a voice  they  cannot  hear,  you  see  a hand  they  cannot 
see,”  you  feel  that  to  your  own  master  you  stand  or  fall,  that 
that  master  has  already  drawn  the  line  upon  which  you  are  to 
walk,  and  that  in  comparison  with  his  approval,  the  applause 
or  censure  of  the  whole  world  is  but  as  dust  upon  the  balance. 
The  question  you  ask  therefore  is  simply,  what  does  the  Lord 
require  of  me  ? and  having  ascertained  (as  far  as  the  grace  of 
God  enables  you)  what  is  the  will  of  your  heavenly  Father, 
you  must  pursue  it  through  evil  report  and  good  report,  un- 
deterred by  the  clamours  of  designing  enemies,  and  uninfluenced 
by  the  opinion  of  mistaken  friends.  You  will  neglect  no  means 
which  are  perfectly  compatible  with  the  will  of  your  God  : you 
will  adopt  none  upon  which  you  cannot  most  conscientiously 
invoke  his  presence  and  his  blessing  ; and  having  employed 
the  means,  you  will  leave  the  event  to  heaven,  casting  all  your 
cares  upon  God,  knowing  that  “ he  careth  for  you.” 

But  we  must  endeavour  more  minutely  to  apply  the  instruc- 
tive incident  before  us.  Do  we,  at  the  present  moment,  address 


LECTURE  IV. 


159 


any  who  are  placed  in  circumstances  of  peculiar  difficulty  or 
trial  ? Do  these  difficulties  assail  you  upon  the  course  which 
you  have  every  reason  to  believe  God  has  appointed  for  you 
to  walk  in  ? and  are  you  sometimes  tempted  to  liiink,  if  this 
were  really  the  path  of  duty,  should  I so  continually  meet  these 
hinderances  and  these  difficulties  ? Let  the  example  before 
you  suggest  consolation  and  encouragement.  God  himself 
had  commanded  Jacob  to  enter  upon  the  journey,  to  travel  the 
very  road  upon  which  we  find  him : it  could  not  therefore  be 
a question  whether  he  were  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  yet  he  had 
proceeded  little  more  than  a week  upon  the  appointed  way, 
when  he  encountered  the  appalling  difficulty  of  which  we  speak. 
Be  not,  therefore,  led  to  doubt  whether  the  path  upon,  which 
you  are  walking  be  of  God’s  appointment,  because  only  it  is 
difficult.  The  spiritual  path  of  the  Christian  is  never  one  of 
unmixed  gratification.  He,  who  himself  put  on  a crown  of 
thorns,  never  intended  that  his  followers  should  wear  a crown 
of  flowers.  He,  who  has  told  you  to  take  up  your  cross  daily 
and  follow  him,  well  knew  that  you  would  not  be  able  truly  to 
follow  him  without  having  daily  crosses  to  take  up.  He,  who 
promised,  that  if  you  suffered  you  should  also  reign  with  him, 
loves  his  people  too  dearly  to  withhold  that  which  is  so  essen- 
tial to  the  fitting  them  for  himself.  “Beloved,”  says  St.  Peter, 
“ think  it  not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial,  which  is  to  try 
you,  as  though  some  strange  thing  happened  unto  you,  but 
rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ’s  sufferings, 
that  when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad  also  with 
exceeding  joy.”  The  Christian’s  course  is,  indeed,  “from  a 
cross  to  a crown,”  and,  though  we  would  not  have  you  seek 
crosses,  God  forbid  that  you  should  shrink  from  them,  when 
fairly  encountered  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  in  the  way  of 
his  commandments.  But  do  you  still  further  ask,  If  my  situa- 
tion, difficult  as  it  truly  is,  be  that  which  Providence  has 
appointed  me,  and  if,  therefore,  I may  not  timidly  fly  from  it, 
how  may  I hope  to  be  enabled  to  persevere  ? we  again  say, 
observe  the  example  before  you,  Jacob  did  not  fly  : neither  did 


160 


JACOB. 


he  fight : his  refuge  was  in  prayer.  Carefully  lay  this  to 
heart — “ the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal.”  Happy 
would  it  have  been  for  the  church  of  Christ,  if  his  followers 
had,  in  all  ages,  remembered  this  ; happy  for  you,  my  brethren, 
if  you  are  never  tempted  to  forget  it ; you  will  not  conquer  by 
resistance,  but  like  Jacob,  by  prayer.  Prayer  will  furnish  you 
with  weapons,  from  the  armoury  of  heaven — weapons,  not  of 
offence,  but  of  defence.  A throne  of  grace  is,  to  the  Christian, 
the  citadel  where  he  will  always  find  a protector  to  aid,  and  the 
home  where  there  is  always  a Father  to  listen  to  him.  “ I 
must  tell  this  to  my  God,”  was  the  affecting  observation  of  a 
Christian  slave,  while  writhing  under  the  lash  of  a cruel  task- 
master ! There  was  no  one  else  who  would  hear  him,  no 
other  being  who  could  sympathize  with  him  or  relieve  him 
How  many  are  the  crosses  of  the 'Christian  which  ought  only 
to  be  divulged  to  this  never-failing  friend  ; how  many  sorrows 
which  can  be  poured  into  no  bosom  but  that  of  his  Redeemer  ? 
It  is  thus,  that  when  you  are  weak,  then  are  you  strong ; when, 
with  the  prophet,  your  “eyes  fail  with  looking  upwards,”  and 
you  cry,  “ O Lord,  I am  oppressed,  undertake  for  me,”  then 
you  are  sure  of  victory. 

Very  interesting  is  it  to  the  Christian  to  observe  this  method 
of  relief  so  plainly  marked  out  by  the  conduct  of  the  patri- 
arch, whose  life  w'e  are  reviewing.  Follow  Jacob  from  the 
scene  of  all  those  prudent  arrangements  to  which  we  have 
adverted,  go  with  him  from  the  field  into  the  tent,  and  behold 
how  he  is  employed  ; you  will  find  him  on  his  knees  before 
the  footstool  of  his  heavenly  Father,  acknowledging,  that  every 
other  aid  is  vain ; and  that,  after  all  his  efforts,  his  strength  is 
in  the  Lord  his  God.  Mark  the  language  in  which  he  thus 
pours  out  his  overburdened  soul  before  the  mercy-seat : “G 
God  of  my  father  Abraham,  and  God  of  my  father  Isaac,  the 
liord  which  saidst  unto  me.  Return  unto  thy  country  and  to  thy 
kindred,  and  I will  deal  well  with  thee;  I am  not  worthy  of 
the  least  of  all  the  mercies  and  of  all  the  truth  which  thou  hast 
shown  unto  thy  servant ; for  with  my  staff  I passed  over  this 


LECTURE  IV. 


161 


Jordan,  and  now  am  become  two  bands.  Deliver  me,  I pray 
thee,  from  the  hand  of  my  brother,  from  the  hand  of  Esau 
for  “ thou  saidst,  I will  surely  do  thee  good.” 

Observe  the  humility,  the  gratitude,  the  confidence  which 
these  petitions  breathe.  How  worthy  the  imitation  of  the 
Christian,  how  admirable  a model  for  ourselves ! They  are 
grounded  simply  upon  the  covenant  into  which  the  Almighty 
had  entered  with  these  holy  men  of  old,  “ the  everlasting  cove- 
nant ordered  in  all  things  and  sure and  is  not  this  also  the 
Christian’s  strength  in  prayer?  When  you  pray,  said  our  di- 
vine Master,  say,  “ Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven.”  It  is 
“ the  spirit  of  adoption, which  can  alone  enable  you  to  address 
the  Almighty  thus  ; possessing  this  spirit,  you  pray  to  a God 
with  whom  you  are  already  in  covenant;  your  petitions  are 
grounded  upon  a solemn  promise ; you  speak  to  One  who  has 
pledged  himself  to  hear  the  petitions  of  them  that  ask  in  his 
Son’s  name,  and,  therefore,  while  you  know  and  acknow- 
ledge that  you  are  unworthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies 
which  God  has  showed  unto  his  servant,  you  are  enabled  to 
come  boldly  unto  the  throne  of  grace,  that  you  may  obtain 
mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need.  “ O that  there 
were  such  a heart”  in  every  one  of  us  ! then  indeed  we  might 
hope  that  the  “ words  of  our  lips,  and  the  meditations  of  our 
hearts,  would  be  always  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God,  our 
strength  and  our  Redeemer.” 

Again  observe  the  gratitude  visible  in  this  address.  He  re- 
minds God  of  what  He  had  done  for  him,  feeling  assured  by 
this  of  what  he  will  do  ; “ with  my  staff,”  and  nothing  but  my 
staff,  “ I passed  over  this  Jordan,  and  now  I am  become  two 
bands ;”  how  blessed,  how  multiplied ! If  this  argument 
were  powerful  in  the  mouth  of  Jacob,  who  only  reverted  to 
temporal  blessings,  surely  it  is  irresistible  when  flowing  from 
the  heart  of  the  true  believer.  Behold,  O heavenly  Father, 
what  thou  hast  already  done  for  me ! It  is  thine  own  work, 
thine  own  undeserved  mercy  ; by  the  grace  of  God  I am  what 
I am.  Thou  wilt  not  forsake  me  now.  When  thou  first  be- 

14* 


162 


JACOB. 


lieid  me,  I was  an  alien  from  thee,  poorer  than  the  poorest  of 
thy  servants,  banished  from  thy  presence,  and  yet  me  “hast 
thou  quickened,  who  was  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.”  Surely 
these  former  mercies  are  pledges  of  future  ; for  if,  as  the  apostle 
says,  “ while  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by 
the  death  of  his  Son,  much  more  being  reconciled,  we  shall  be 
saved  by  his  life.” 

Again,  observe  the  confidence  in  the  promises  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  manifested  in  this  prayer  of  Jacob:  “ Thou  saidst,  I 
will  surely  do  thee  good.”  It  was  on  this  account  that  Jacob 
felt  convinced  that  God  would  do  him  good  ; it  was  enough  for 
him  that  God  had  said  it ; for  “ God  is  not  man  that  he  should 
lie,  or  the  son  of  man  that  he  should  repent.”  This  humble 
but  unshaken  confidence  is  the  very  soul  of  prayer.  Come 
thus  to  the  throne  of  grace,  pleading  the  exceeding  great  and 
precious  promises  of  your  God,  and  you  will  never  be  sent 
empty  away.  Put  me  in  remembrance,  (says  God,)  “ let  us 
plead  together,  declare  thou  that  thou  mayest  be  justified.” 
Whatever  may  be  the  blessing  that  you  desire,  put  the  Al- 
mighty in  remembrance  of  the  promise  by  which  He  has  en- 
sured it  to  you.  It  is  his  own  direction,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  unavailing.  Do  you  require  forgiveness?  take  with  you 
this  promise,  “ Though  your  sins  be  as  scElrlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow.”  Do  you  need  protection  ? remind  the 
Lord  that  He  has  said,  “ I will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake 
thee.”  Do  you  ask  acceptance  ? He  has  declared,  “ Him  that 
cometh  unto  me  I will  in  no  wise  cast  out.”  Happy  is  it  for 
the  Christian,  when  he  can  faithfully  plead  and  contentedly 
repose  his  soul  upon  such  promises  as  these,  he  will  have  no 
cause  for  alarm  ; the  “ enemy  may  come  in  like  a flood,  but  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a standard  against  him.” 

There  are  times,  we  trust,  when  many  among  you  pray 
thus,  and  for  a little  season,  the  glow  of  devotion  and  the  fire 
of  faith  continue ; but  alas ! in  most  of  us,  how  speedily 
quenched ! how  soon  exchanged  for  the  trifling  thoughts  or 
vain  imaginations  suggested  by  the  world  around  us ! No 


LECTURE  IV. 


163 


doubt  Jacob  participated  in  this  weakness  of  our  fallen  nature, 
for  he  was  a “ man  subjected  to  like  passions  as  we  are it 
was  therefore  necessary  that  he  should  be  taught  the  impor- 
tant lesson  which  our  blessed  Lord  and  his  disciples  have  so 
continually  laboured  to  impress  upon  us,  viz.,  that  “men 
ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint and  observe  how  re- 
markably he  was  taught  it ! 

^ Then  continues  the  inspired  historian,  “ Jacob  was  left  alone, 
and  there  wrestled  a man  with  him  until  the  breaking  of  the 
day.”  This  man,  as  we  learn  from  the  30th  verse,  was  no 
less  a person  than  God,  called  by  the  prophet  Hosea,  “ the 
angel,”  “ the  Lord  of  Hosts,”  or  Jehovah,  “ the  messenger  of 
the  covenant,”  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  under  similar  ap- 
pearances had  communed  with  Adam  and  Noah,  Abraham  and 
Lot.  “ And  when  he  saw  that  he  prevailed  not  against  him, 
he  touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh,  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob’s 
thigh  was  out  of  joint  as  he  v/resiled  with  him.  And  he  said, 
let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And  he  said,  I will  not  let 
thee  go,  except  thou  bless  me.”  “ And  he  blessed  him  there.” 

In  this  most  mysterious  transaction,  however  inexplicable 
may  be  the^a^f,  the  lesson  to  be  imparted  is  sufficiently  ob- 
vious. It  was  to  teach  Jacob,  as  the  holy  men  of  old  were 
often  taught,  by  act  and  not  by  word,  that  no  blessing  would 
God  deny  to  persevering  prayer.  It  is  thus  that  the  prophet 
Hosea  explains  it  when  he  says,  “ By  his  strength,  Jacob  had 
power  with  God ; yea,  he  had  power  over  the  angel  and  pre- 
vailed ; he  wept  and  made  supplication ;”  an  instance  of  that 
holy  perseverance  by  which  our  Lord  assures  us,  “ the  king- 
dom of  heaven  until  now  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force.”  But  lest  Jacob  should  attribute  his  success 
to  his  own  strength,  “the  uncreated  angel”  who  wrestled  with 
him,  by  a single  touch  lamed  him  for  life,  to  convince  him  that 
God  did  not  want  the  power,  but  the  will  to  conquer  him ; 
that  God  is  not  constrained  by  the  prayers  of  his  people,  but 
that  he,  in  love  and  mercy,  permits  faithful,  persevering  prayer 
to  be  omnipotent. 


164 


JACOB 


Then  did  the  Almighty  reveal  to  Jacob,  by  the  change  of 
his  name,  the  astonishing  nature  of  the  conflict  in  which  he  had 
been  engaged.  He  said  “ Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more 
Jacob,  but  Israel,  for  as  a prince  hast  thou  power  with  GOD 
and  y^ith  men,  and  hast  prevailed.” 

My  Christian  brethren,  the  time  will  not  allow  me  to  dwell 
at  any  length  upon  the  application  of  this  most  remarkable  inci- 
dent ; but,  oh  ! let  it  not  be  disregarded.  If  Jacob’s  petitions 
have  suggested  matter  for  prayer,  let  his  wrestling  suggest  the 
•manner — that  prayer  must  be  continued,  persevering,  and 
ardent,  as  well  as  faithful,  humble,  and  confiding.  Meditate 
upon  it  in  the  way  of  serious  self-examination.  Inquire  whether 
you  know  any  thing  experimentally  of  this  wrestling  with 
God.  We  admit  that  it  is  a highly  figurative  expression,  but 
if  there  be  meaning  in  language,  it  cannot  represent  the  poor, 
cold,  formal  service  which  we  too  often  misname  prayer.  In 
the  wrestler,  every  limb,  every  muscle,  every  faculty  is  engaged 
and  his  grasp  once  taken,  he  never  relaxes  his  hold,  until  he  has 
gained  the  object  for  which  he  is  struggling.  Is  there  any 
thing  in  your  holiest  efforts  at  the  throne  of  grace  at  all  resembling 
this?  Yet  this  is  prayer!  That  earnest  application  to  the 
Father  of  our  spirits  which  engages  every  feeling  and  affection 
of  the  heart,  every  thought  and  faculty  of  the  mind,  which,  if 
we  may  so  express  ourselves,  teaches  us  to  cling  around  the 
mercy-seat,  and  never  to  relax  our  hold  and  rise  from  our  knees 
without  the'  blessing.  Pray  thus  perse veringly,  and  you  will 
pray  effectually ; “ when  thou  shalt  call,”  as  the  prophet  has 
declared,  “ the  I^ord  shall  answer  thee  ; when  thou  shalt  cry, 
he  shall  say.  Here  I am.”  Thus  like  Jacob  shall  you  have 
power  with  God  and  shall  prevail.  Whatever  discourage- 
ments you  may  meet  with  in  coming  to  a throne  of  grace,  be 
not  deterred,  remember  that  on  the  very  spot  where  God  had 
lamed  Jacob,  there,  even  there,  he  blessed  him.  Be  assured 
that  your  greater  discouragements  are  only  preludes  to  greater 
blessings,  that  your  ever  gracious  Intercessor  is  at  the  present 
moment  as  tender,  as  willing  to  hear  the  cry  of  his  children,  as 


LECTURE  V. 


1G5 


in  the  days  of  his  flesh ; that  now,  as  then,  he  cannot  close  his 
ears  or  his  heart  to  persevering  prayer ; continue,  therefore, 
to  entreat  him,  pray  without  ceasing,  and  you  will,  in  his  own 
good  time,  assuredly  receive  the  wished-for  answer,  “ Great  is 
thy  faith,  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.” 


LECTURE  V. 

Genesis  xxxiii.  4. 

And  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neek 
- and  kissed  him,  and  they  wept.” 

Our  last  discourse  brought  us  to  that  period  in  the  history 
of  Jacob,  in  which,  after  having  seen  him  making  every  pre- 
paration that  prudence  could  dictate  against  the  hostile  approach 
of  his  brother,  we  beheld  him  commiting  himself  in  humble, 
fervent  prayer  to  the  God  of  his  salvation,  spreading  before  the 
Lord  the  anxieties  and  apprehensions  which  filled  his  bosom, 
and  engaged  throughout  the  live  long  night,  in  “ weeping  and 
making  supplication”  until  he  “ had  power  with  God  and  pre- 
vailed.” We  are  to  commence  our  present  observations  by 
endeavouring  to  trace  the  effect  of  this  prayer,  and  to  behold 
the  manner  in  which,  in  answer  to  Jacob’s  petitions,  the 
Almighty  averted  the  threatened  calamity.  Before  we  enter 
upon  this  investigation,  we  cannot  refrain  from  endeavouring  to 
strengthen  those  observations  upon  prayer  which  formed  a 
prominent  feature  of  our  last  discourse,  by  remarking  how 
powerful  an  inducement  is  offered  to  the  prayers  of  the  Chris- 
tian by  the  consideration,  that  the  Word  of  God  furnishes  us 
with  so  many  instances  of  answers  to  the  petitions  of  his 
people.* 

* For  a connected  view  of  the  answers  to  prayer,  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, see  a very  interesting  little  work  denominated,  “ The  Achievements 
of  Prayer.” 


166 


JACOB. 


God  would  have  acted  with  equal  justice,  and  man  would 
have  been  equally  without  excuse,  had  the  Bible  not  recorded 
a single  answer  to  prayer ; had  the  Almighty  contented  himself 
with  commanding  us  to  pray,  and  promising  to  hear  us  without 
revealing  to  us  any  particular  instance  in  which  the  command 
had  been  obeyed  and  the  promise  fulfilled.  What  additional 
obligations  then  do  the  injunctions  to  prayer  possess,  since  our 
heavenly  Father  has  in  mercy  permitted  them  to  be  accom- 
panied by  so  many  astonishing  instances  of  accomplishment. 
Peculiar,  indeed,  must  be  the  situation  of  that  Christian  who 
cannot  look  into  the  pages  of  God’s  word,  and  find  some  instances 
in  which  his  own  particular  necessity,  be  it  what  it  may,  has 
been  experienced  by  the  saints  of  old,  and  been  made  the  sub- 
jects of  their  petitions,  and  been  removed  or  alleviated  in 
answer  to  their  prayers.  My  brethren,  if  you  would  really 
allow  these  instances  their  due  weight  in  your  minds,  prayer 
would  acquire  an  importance  and  a value  of  which  you  have, 
perhaps,  at  present  but  little  conception.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  Bible  to  lead  you  to  imagine  that  God  attended  more  ear- 
nestly to  the  prayers  of  the  patriarchs,  or  answered  them  more 
readily,  than  he  now  answers  your  own; — every  thing  to  assure 
you  that  “ whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  prayer  believing^  ye  shall 
receive.”  Whence  comes  it,  then,  that,  to  so  many  amongst 
us,  prayer  appears  comparatively  to  have  lost  its  value  ? 
Whence  is  it  that,  compared  with  these  men  of  old,  this  heart- 
felt intercourse  with  our  Creator,  and  Redeemer,  occupies  so 
small  a portion  of  our  lives  ? Is  it  that  we  have  less  sorrow, 
less  necessity,  less  sin  than  they  had  ? Is  it  not  rather  that  we 
have  less  faith?  We  do  not  believe  that  God  really  hears  the 
prayers  and  answers  the  petitions  of  all  who  faithfully  seek  him, 
and  therefore  we  have  no  heart  for  prayer.  My  brethren,  I 
would  appeal  to  your  own  consciences  whether  there  be  not  too 
much  of  truth  in  this.  You  perhaps  consider  prayer  as  a duty, 
and  would  not,  from  feelings  of  obedience  towards  God,  upon 
any  consideration,  absolutely  neglect  it : so  far  this  is  well,  but 
it  is  very  different  from  that  true  appreciation,  that  real  enjoy- 


LECTURE  V. 


1G7 


Tnent  of  close  and  intimate  communion  with  God,  which  could 
induce  a saint  of  old  to  exclaim,  “ As  the  hart  panteth  for  the 
water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  0 God  ! My  soul 
ihirsteth  for  the  living  God:  when  shall  I come  and  appear 
before  God  ?”  These  are  the  feelings  which  can  alone  render 
prayer  an  enjoyment  and  a delight.  Are  these  then  the  feelings 
with  which  you  approach  a throne  of  grace  ? or  does  so  much 
of  formality  and  faithlessness  mingle  with  your  performance  of 
this  great  duty,  that  many  a petition  is  offered,  and  many  a 
prayer  poured  forth,  without  any  very  deep  consideration  of  the 
Being  you  address,  or  any  very  heartfelt  conviction  for  which 
you  seek  ? In  too  many  instances,  judging  from  our  own  hearts, 
we  fear  it  is  so  ; and  the  consequence  of  this  is,  that  prayer  is 
comparatively  neglected  : it  has  indeed  still  its  stated  hours,  or 
rather  its  stated  moments,  in  the  daily  occupation  of  the  Chris- 
tian, but  like  some  obsolete  custom  which  is  not  literally  ban- 
ished, but  continues  to  be  borne  with,  rather  out  of  compliment 
to  time  and  usages  that  have  passed  away,  and  from  a kindly 
feeling  towards  the  habits  of  our  forefathers,  than  from  any 
peculiar  interest  which  we  take  in  the  observance  itself ; so 
with  too  many,  the  morning  and  the  evening  still  see  them  on 
their  knees,  still  hear  the  words  of  prayer  passing  thoughtlessly 
from  their  lips,  but  the  actual  intention  of  the  service  is  over- 
looked and  forgotten.  It  is  no  longer  the  season  to  which  the 
full  heart  is  looking  with  anxious  delight  throughout  the  busy 
hours  of  necessary  occupation,  as  the  time  when  it  will  be  able 
to  unburden  itself  into  the  bosom  of  a friend ; no  longer  the 
season  in  which,  if  hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness, 
we  should  rejoice,  as  ministering  to  us  of  “the  hidden  manna,” 
and  the  refreshing  streams  of  “ the  water  of  life  but  the  hour 
which  we  almost  regret  must  intervene  between  our  employ- 
ments and  our  repose,  and  which  we  gladly  avail  ourselves  of 
every  plausible  excuse  to  abbreviate  or  to  omit.  The  natural  con- 
sequence of  this  is,  that  when  we  are  driven  by  affliction,  or  trial, 
or  difficulty,  to  seek  in  earnest  the  throne  of  grace,  we  go  to  God 
as  strangers  ; there  is  a feeling  of  shyness  and  awkwardness 


1G8 


JACOB. 


pervading  all  our  intercourse  with  heaven,  much  resembling  that 
which  necessarily  marks  our  correspondence  with  an  absent 
friend,  when  it  has  been  long  intermitted,  or  our  first  meeting 
with  a casual  acquaintance  after  long  absence.  How  widely 
different  from  these  holy  men  of  old ! They  invariably  lived 
at  all  times  near  to  God,  and  the  natural  result  was  that  no 
sooner  did  affliction  assail  or  difficulty  oppress  them,  than  they 
turned  for  refuge  to  the  mercy-seat,  poured  forth  their  complaints 
with  humble  confidence  into  the  ear  of  a father,  firmly  believing 
that  what  they  “ asked  faithfully  they  should  obtain  effectually 
and  they  were  never  disappointed,  they  received  “help  from 
the  sanctuary  and  were  strengthened  out  of  Zion.”  The  truth 
of  these  assertions,  as  they  refer  to  yourselves,  I leave  to  the 
convictions  of  your  own  consciences  ; as  they  refer  to  the  holy 
men  of  old,  the  history  before  us  will  abundantly  verify. 

Jacob  having  passed  the  night  in  fervent  prayer,  and  having, 
by  this  holy  violence,  overcome  (as  we  explained  in  our  last) 
that  supernatural  visitant  who  wrestled  with  him,  and  obtained 
on  that  same  spot  the  blessing,  proceeds  the  following  morning 
on  his  journey.  He  knew  that  the  dreaded  interview  must 
still  take  place  ; that  Esau  and  his  four  hundred  armed  men 
must  be  encountered : but  he  no  longer  trembles  for  the  issue. 
Before  he  had  thus  “ cast  all  his  care  upon  God,”  we  were 
told  that  even  at  the  mere  mention  of  Esau’s  threatened  visit 
“ he  was  greatly  afraid  and  distressed ;”  now,  as  the  inspiVed 
historian  relates,  “ Jacob  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and  be- 
hold, Esau  came  and  with  him  four  hundred  men,”  but  not  a 
word  of  Jacob’s  fear.  The  Lord  had  promised  that  he  should 
“ have  power  with  God  and  man,  and  should  prevail and 
Jacob  implicitly  believed  the  promise  ; he  knew  not  in  what 
manner  God  would  deliver  him,  and  therefore  he  still  adopted 
all  the  precautionary  measures  to  which  we  before  adverted ; 
but  he  knew  that  God  would  deliver  him,  and  therefore  he  no 
longer  dreaded  the  result.  How  remarkable  is  the  issue  of 
this  long-anticipated  trouble  ? The  two  bands  approach  each 
other.  Jacob  draws  near  his  brother,  still  perfectly  uncertain 


L T:  C T U R E V. 


1G9 


of  the  event,  knowing,  that  at  a word  from  Esaii,  his  predatory 
followers  would  put  the  whole  company  to  the  sword,  when 
we  are  told,  “ Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and 
fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him,  and  they  wept.”  Thus 
prayer  was  honoured,  the  faithfulness  of  God  exemplified,  and 
the  life  and  property  of  his  devout  servant  rescued  from  de- 
struction. 

How  delightful  a termination  to  all  Jacob’s  anxieties  and 
fears  ; and  how  much  to  instruct,  to  encourage,  and  to  establish 
the  Christian  ! Who  among  us  cannot  sympathize  in  Jacob’s 
apprehensions  and  Jacob’s  deliverance  ? Have  you  never, 
my  brethren,  beheld  at  a distance  some  calamity  or  trial,  the 
approach  of  which  was  so  appalling  that  you  dare  not  attempt 
to  realize  it,  and  at  the  same  time  so  certain  that  you  knew  it 
lo  be  inevitable ; and  has  not  your  faithless  heart  almost  per- 
suaded you  that  it  was  in  vain  even  to  pray  against  it,  that  it 
was  “hoping  against  hope,”  to  expect  deliverance.  Surely 
such  instances  have  occurred  to  every  one  of  us ; and  if  we 
have  by  the  grace  of  God  been  enabled  to  persevere,  how  often 
has  the  event  been  mercifully  overruled,  and  the  cloud,  appa- 
rently black  with  supernatural  tempest,  has  burst  in  blessings 
on  our  heads  ! While,  alas  ! how  often  has  it  also  happened, 
that  we  have  given  up  in  hopeless  despondency,  because  we 
have  concluded  that  the  event  was  certain,  thus  limiting  the 
Almighty,  and  believing,  that  if  he  deliver  us  not  in  the  way 
which  we  anticipate,  he  cannot  deliver  us  at  all.  Let  the 
example  before  you  “ lift  up  the  hands  which  hang  down,  and 
strenghen  the  feeble  knees.”  Let  it  convince  you  that  God  is 
never  without  a refuge  for  his  people.  He  may  not  avert  the 
impending  calamity,  but  he  will,  in  some  manner,  so  ameliorate 
the  circumstances  of  it,  or  so  influence  your  own  mind  to 
receive  it,  that  when  it  happens,  you  will  scarcely  believe  that 
this  was  the  event  to  which  you  had  long  looked  forward  with 
such  unqualified  apprehension,  or  such  unmitigated  repugnancy. 

If  this  be  true  (and  the  experience  of  many  who  hear  me 
will,  I am  sure,  verify  the  declaration)  as  respects  temporal 
15 


170 


JACOB. 


trials  or  calamities,  how  much  more  remarkably  is  it  manifested 
with  regard  to  spiritual  difficulties  ! Do  I,  at  the  present 
moment,  address  any  who  are  entering,  or  desirous  of  entering, 
upon  the  heavenward  path  ; and  do  they  feel  such  apprehen- 
sions of  the  trials  that  may  await  them,  that  they  are  almost 
ready  to  exclaim  with  the  Psalmist ; — “ Fearfulness  and  trem- 
bling are  come  upon  me.  O,  that  I had  wings  like  a dove,  for 
then  would  I flee  away  and  be  at  rest?”  I would  remind 
them,  that  what  the  Almighty  here  performed  for  Jacob  is  but 
the  faintest  shadow  of  what  he  has  promised  to  do  for  them. 
We  may  say  to  the  young  Christian,  as  our  Lord  said  to  the 
Jews,  “Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  scriptures  you  are 
scarcely  aware  of  the  superabuudance  of  the  promises  by  which 
God  has  pledged  himself  to  help  you  and  to  carry  you  through. 
Take  but  one  small  specimen  of  them,  that  the  richness  of  the 
ore  may  send  you  to  the  mine  from  which  it  is  dug.  “ Thus 
saith  the  Lord : Fear  thou  not,  for  I am  with  thee ; be  not  dis- 
mayed, for  I am  thy  God.  I will  strengthen  thee  : yea  I will 
help  thee;  yea  I will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand  of  my 
righteousness.” 

But  do  you  think  that  your  difficulties  are  peculiar  to  your- 
self, that  the  obstructions  in  your  path  are  so  vast  that  you 
cannot  surmount  them  ? Hear  again  the  word  of  the  Lord  : 
“Fear  not,  thou  worm  Jacob,  and  ye  men  of  Israel;  I wdl 
help  thee,  saith  the  Lord,  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel.  Behold.. ..thou  shalt  thresh  the  mountains  (those  very 
obstructions  which  you  think  impassable,  thou  shalt  not  only 
.surmount  them  but  thresh  them,)  and  beat  them  small,  and 
shalt  make  the  hills  as  chaff.  Thou  shalt  fan  them,  and  the 
wind  shall  carry  them  away,  and  the  whirlwind  shall  scatter 
them.”  Who  can  despond  when  such  offers  as  these  are 
made  to  each  and  all  ? May  the  Holy  Spirit  of  our  God  carry 
them  home  to  those  bleeding  hearts  which  need  their  healing 
unction,  and  their  quickening  power  ! 

J"he  brothers  having,  by  that  astonishing,  though  invisible 
ijilluence,  which  the  Almighty  possesses  over  the  affections 


LECTURE  V. 


171 


and  wills  of  man,  been  thus  reconciled  to  each  other,  once 
more  separated  upon  their  journey  ; Jacob  most  wisely  declin- 
ing Esau’s  kindly  intended  invitation,  that  they  should  unite 
their  companies  and  travel  together.  We  say,  most  wisely 
declining  it,  for  so  essentially  different  were  they  in  their  habits, 
manners,  thoughts,  and  occupations,  that  little  happiness  woulil 
have  accrued  from  their  intimate  association.  Esau  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  a man  of  the  world,  Jacob  a man  of  God ; still 
they  were  brothers,  and  as  the  children  of  the  same  parents,  it 
was  unquestionably  their  duty  to  know  and  to  love,  and  to  be 
kindly  atfectioned  one  towards  another ; but  they  were  not 
called  upon  to  live  in  the  closest  bonds  of  intimacy,  to  travel 
the  same  road,  and  to  intermingle  in  the  same  company.  Jacob 
was  therefore  wise  in  resolutely  declining  the  offer  of  Esau, 
and  continuing  his  journey  surrounded  by  the  peaceful  and 
domestic  blessings  with  which  he  had  commenced  it ; refusing 
even  the  retinue  with  which  Esau  would  have  honoured  him, 
but  which  would  have  ill  assorted  with  the  plain  and  simple 
habits  of  the  Patriarch.  There  was  a degree  of  prudence  and 
circumspection  in  all  this,  well  worthy  the  consideration  of  the 
Christian.  You  also,  my  brethren,  are  commanded  by  your 
holy  calling  to  “ seek  peace  and  ensue  it,”  “ as  much  as  lieth 
in  you  to  live  peaceably  with  all  men  but  you  are  not  com- 
manded to  unite  companies,  and  to  contract  intimacies,  and  to 
league  yourself  closely  with  any,  but  with  “ them  who  are  of 
the  household  of  faith.”  “ Can  two  walk  together  except  they 
be  agreed  ?”  saith  the  Lord,  and  daily  experience  supplies  the 
answer ; for  is  it  not  most  wofully  demonstrated  by  the  broken 
friendships,  and  the  unhappy  intimacies,  and  the  miserable 
marriages,  which  form  such  prominent  but  disgraceful  features 
in  every  Christian  community  ? Jacob  and  Esau  might  em- 
brace for  a few  moments,  or  act  affectionately  for  a passing 
hour,  but  if  they  had  attempted  to  sojourn  together,  the  enmity 
so  early  implanted  between  the  seed  of  the  woman  and  the  seed 
of  the  serpent,  would  have  infallibly  broken  forth,  and  Esau 
would  in  all  probability  once  more  have  hated  Jacob,  or  the 


172 


JACOB. 


spiritually-iTiimled  man  of  God  have  been  drawn  from  his 
allegience  by  his  more  worldly-minded  brother.  The  scripture 
is  full  of  examples  tvhere  the  want  of  such  prudence  as  Jacob 
manifested,  has  produced  these  fatal  effects ; would  that  we 
were  enabled  to  add,  that  such  examples  are  only  to  be  found 
in  scripture ; alas  ! we  dare  not  say,  for  we  cannot  think  so. 

Do  we  at  the  present  moment  speak  to  none  who  for  want 
of  this  Christian  circumspection  have  joined  company  with 
those  who  can  but  little  sympathize  in  their  hopes  and  joys, 
their  troubles  and  their  fears  ? Do  we  address  none  who  have 
united  themselves  in  friendship,  and  intimacies,  and  marriages 
with  those  from  whom,  upon  all  essential  points,  they  widely 
differ ; whose  hearts  have  never  been  enlightened  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  to  choose  that  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken 
away  from  them  ? There  is  nothing  so  dangerous,  so  entan- 
gling to  the  Christian,  and  especially  to  the  youthful  Christian, 
as  such  associations  as  these,  for  you  cannot  but  approximate 
to  those  in  sentiment  with  whom  you  closely  unite  yourself  in 
friendship,  and  unfortunateljr  in  these  unnatural  alliances  there 
is  no  reciprocation.  The  world  does  not,  as  you  vainly  ima- 
gine, meet  the  Christian  half  way.  Its  partisans  have  no  sa- 
crifices to  make : in  uniting  themselves  to  you  they  have 
nothing  valuable  to  give  up,  while  you,  in  uniting  yourself  to 
them,  yield  by  degress  every  thing  most  valuable  and  most 
dear.  Be  assured  that  you  cannot  take  a single  step  towards 
their  sinful  habits,  and  compliances,  and  amusements,  without 
taking  it  in  an  opposite  direction  from  your  Father’s  house ; 
that  the  distance  is  daily  widening,  and  that  the  closer  you 
draw  to  those  who  know  not  God,  the  further  you  separate 
yourself,  the  more  you  alienate  yourself  from  heaven.  You 
begin  by  giving  up  only  what  you  consider  the  non-essentials 
of  religion  from  an  amiable  desire  of  conciliating  the  good-will, 
or  perhaps  of  being  useful  to  those  with  whom  you  associate ; 
but  as  you  advance,  you  discover  that  every  cession  on  your 
part  only  leads  to  higher  demands,  and  more  exorbitant  requests 
on  theirs  ; from  partaking  with  them,  at  first,  of  what  is  merely 


LECTURE  V. 


173 


indifferent,  or  perhaps  in  itself  innocent,  you  are  led  on  to 
those  things  which  are  inexpedient,  and  will  probably  end  in 
what  is  absolutely  guilty.  'J"his  is,  alas  1 no  imaginary  dan- 
ger; for  may  we  not  say  to  some  among  you — look  back 
tlirough  the  vista  of  a few  months  or  years,  from  the  spot  on 
which  you  at  present  stand,  and  mark  how  rapid  has  been  the 
change  in  your  feelings  and  conduct ! You  are  scarcely  able 
to  recognize  your  former  selves.  Where  are  now  those  feel- 
ings so  tremblingly  alive  to  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  those 
anxieties  to  “redeem  the  time  because  the  days  are  evil,”  once 
so  prevalent  in  your  bosom?  Where  are  those  desires  to 
benefit  the  souls  of  all  with  whom  you  converse  ? that  almost 
instinctive  dread  even  of  the  smallest  deviation  from  the  ways 
of  godliness,  which  made  the  least  sin  such  an  abhorrence  to 
your  soul,  that  its  committal  would  fill  your  eyes  with  tears, 
and  bring  watchfulness  and  wakefulness  to  your  couch  ? How 
few  of  these  feelings  have  survived  ! scarcely  a vestige  of 
them  remaining ; and  yet  you  have  not  at  present,  perhaps, 
been  led  into  gross  sins,  you  have  not  sunk  into  the  depth  of 
enormities.  Whence,  then,  has  come  this  imperceptibly  ad- 
vancing change  ? It  is  the  natural  effect  of  your  intimacy 
with  those  who  make  a mock  at  sin,  who  think  all  religion  of 
the  heart  superstition  and  enthusiasm.  It  is  the  predicted 
result  of  “the  friendship  of  the  world,”  which  the  Bible  has 
declared  is  “ enmity  with  God.”  It  is  the  fatal  consequence 
which  the  infallible  word  of  the  Lord  has  proclaimed  : “ She 
that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth.”  These  are 
the  reasons  for  your  present  state  of  indifference  to  subjects 
once  so  dear  to  you.  Would  to  God  it  were  as  easy  to  apply 
the  remedy  as  to  recount  the  reasons!  Yet  should  we  ill 
perform  our  duty  as  Christian  ministers,  as  those  who  have 
the  charge  over  you  in  the  Lord — if  we  did  not  suggest  the 
remedy — if  we  did  not  say  to  all  such,  there  is  but  one  method 
of  escape : “ Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the 
dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light.”  You  must,  however 
painful  be  the  effort,  arouse  yourself,  and  turn,  and  retrace  your 

15* 


174 


JACOB. 


steps,  and  flee  as  for  your  life.  There  is  no  other  remedy  ; you 
cannot  journey  with  the  gay  and  splendid  retinue  of  Esau,  and 
yet  expect  to  be  partakers  of  the  rest  of  Jacob  : therefore,  hear 
ye  the  words  of  the  Lord ; and  may  He  who  possesses  the 
residue  of  the  Spirit  apply  them  with  efficacy  to  your  souls, 
“ Now  we  command  you,  brethren,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother 
that  walketh  disorderly.”  “ I have  written  unto  you  not  to 
keep  company,  if  any  man  that  is  called  a brother  be  a forni- 
cator, or  covetous,  or  an  idolater,  or  a railer,  or  a drunkard,  or 
an  extortioner  ; with  such  an  one,  no  not  to  eat.”  “ Be  ye  not 
unequally  yoked  together  with  unbelievers ; for,  what  fellow- 
ship hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness  ? and  what  com- 
munion hath  light  with  darkness  ? Wherefore,  come  out  from 
among  them  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch  not 
the  unclean  thing,  and  1 will  receive  you  !”  Here  is  your 
remedy ; the  only  remedy  which  the  word  of  God  can  offer 
you ; until  you  plainly  evince,  by  your  conduct,  “ as  for  me 
and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord,”  and  resolve  with  Da- 
vid, that  you  “ will  not  know^"*  (in  the  habits  of  intimacy)  “ a 
wicked  person,”  you  cannot  be  preparing  for  the  society  of 
those  “ who  are  redeemed  from  among  men,  being  the  first- 
fruits  unto  God,  and  to  the  Lamb,”  and  who  “follow  the  Lamb 
whithersoever  he  goeth.” 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  Jacob,  had  he,  upon  all 
occasions,  manifested  the  same  degree  of  prudence  and  cir- 
cumspection, as  in  the  incident  to  which  we  have  been  refer- 
ring ; but,  as  years  pass  on,  there  is  much  to  distress  and  harass 
him  in  his  children’s  conduct,  and  not  a little  to  humble  him 
in  his  own. 

We  find  him,  at  the  opening  of  the  35th  chapter,  still  linger- 
ing in  the  country  of  the  Shechemites,  although  the  crying  sins 
of  his  family,  too  little  restrained,  as  it  appears,  by  the  parental 
authority  of  Jacob,  had  made  him  an  object  of  hatred  to  the 
people  among  whom  he  dwelt.  His  worldly  affairs  had  now 
been  blessed  with  a long  season  of  prosperity : and  what  was 


LECTURE  V. 


175 


the  consequence?  Had  success  brought  him  nearer  to  God? 
Had  he,  whom  we  beheld  in  the  day  of  affliction  coming  so 
fervently,  and  so  constantly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  been  as  con- 
stant and  as  fervent  in  his  applications  there  during  the  sunshine 
of  prosperity  ? We  fear  we  cannot  answer  in  the  affirmative. 
Worldly  ease  and  temporal  enjoyment  had  produced  that  effect 
upon  Jacob  which  they  frequently,  we  had  almost  said  inva- 
riably, produce  upon  ourselves ; they  had  rendered  him  less 
mindful  of  the  Lord  God  of  his  salvation.  You  will  recollect, 
that  when  Jacob  left  his  father’s  house,  a destitute  and  solitary 
wanderer,  the  Almighty  manifested  to  him  upon  the  first  night 
of  his  journey,  assurances  of  protection,  in  the  remarkable 
vision  of  the  ladder ; and  you  will  doubtless  remember  that  on 
that  solemn  occasion,  Jacob  had  vowed  that  if  God  would  be 
with  him,  and  only  give  him  bread  to  eat  and  raiment  to  put 
on,  and  bring  him  back  in  peace,  he  would  there  erect  an  altar, 
and  dedicate  the  tenth  part  of  all  that  he  possessed  to  God.  Let 
us  now  inquire  in  what  manner  this  vow  had  been  performed. 
Twenty  years  had  now  elapsed,  and  the  Almighty  had  most 
bountifully  fulfilled  His  portion  of  the  covenant.  He  had  in- 
deed been  with  Jacob,  never  for  a moment  deserting  him  ; He 
had  brought  him  back  in  peace  ; He  had  given  him  not  merely 
bread  and  raiment,  but  made  him  rich  and  increased  in  goods  ; 
and  he  who  with  his  staff  only  had  passed  over  Jordan,  had 
now  become  a prince  and  a potentate  ; where,  then,  was  Jacob’s 
portion  of  the  covenant  ? where  was  his  vow  ? To  the  disgrace 
of  our  fallen  nature,  unfulfilled  and  forgotten  ! But  God  is  not 
to  be  thus  trifled  with,  with  impunity.  “ God  is  not  mocked.” 
He  therefore  speaks  to  Jacob,  not  as  heretofore,  in  words  of 
kindness,  but  in  deeds  of  chastening.  He  endeavours  to  remind 
him  by  the  severe  memento  of  family  affliction.  The  ruin 
of  his  only  daughter,  and  the  iniquitous  and  disgraceful  conduct 
of  two  of  his  sons,  are  the  methods  by  which  the  Almighty 
first  knocks  at  the  heart  of  Jacob.  The  sleep  of  prosperity 
is,  however,  too  secure  for  this  to  be  effectual.  How,  then, 
does  the  Almighty  proceed  ! Does  he  punish  more  severely  ? 


176 


JACOB. 


does  he  plant  some  sharper  thorn  in  the  bosom  of  his  forgetful 
servant  ? Man  would  assuredly  have  acted  thus : but  how 
delightful  is  it  to  trace,  in  all  the  ways,  and  all  the  works  of 
God,  the  infinite  superiority  of  the  Creator  to  the  creature. 

My  brethren,  God  has  declared  that  punishment  is  his 
“ strange  work a work  in  which  he  never  engages,  until  our 
sins  become  clamorous  for  vengeance.  In  the  instance  before 
us,  therefore,  instead  of  proceeding  to  greater  extremities,  God 
in  justice  remembers  mercy  ; having,  in  justice  punished^ 
He  now  delights  himself,  by  returning  in  mercy.,  to  spare,  and 
condescends  in  person  to  remind  Jacob  of  his  neglected  vow : 
“ And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell 
there,  and  make  there  an  altar  unto  God,  that  appeared  unto 
thee  when  thou  fleddest  from  the  face  of  Esau  thy  brother.” 
How  mild,  and  how  affecting  an  expostulation  ! the  Almighty 
reminds  Jacob,  not  so  much  of  the  neglect  of  the  servant,  as  of 
the  mercy  of  the  master.  He  does  not  say,  build  an  altar  unto 
the  God  whom  thou  hast  promised,  and  hast  disappointed,  but 
unto  the  “ God  who  appeared  unto  thee,  when  thou  fleddest 
from  the  face  of  Esau  thy  brother.”  There  must  have  been 
something  peculiarly  touching  in  the  recollection  which  was 
awakened  by  these  words  : When  thou  fleddest  from  an  enemy, 
and  that  enemy  a brother,  I appeared  for  thee ; / was  thy 
refuge.  Blessed  be  God,  there  is  then  “a  friend  that  sticketh 
closer  than  a brother,'^'*  Where  is  the  heart  that  could  have 
withstood  such  an  expostulation  ? Certainly  not  in  the  bosom 
of  any  real  child  of  God  ; Jacob  was  instantly  recalled  by  it  to 
his  allegiance  and  his  duty,  and  proceeded  to  make  preparations 
for  the  accomplishment  of  his  vow. 

Our  review  of  these  must,  however,  be  deferred  until  the  next 
discourse  ; but  we  cannot  omit  the  application  which  this 
instance  of  the  Almighty’s  method  of  dealing  with  his  servants 
so  strikingly  suggests. 

There  may  be  some  among  you  standing  at  the  present  hour 
in  the  sight  of  God,  in  a precisely  similar  situation  to  that  of 
Jacob;  you  also  have  voluntarily  been  made  the  subjects  of  a 


LECTURE  V. 


177 


most  solemn  and  important  vow  which  you  have,  at  least  in 
most  instances,  thoughtfully  and  premeditatedly  acknowledged 
before  God.  The  terms  of  that  vow  are  neither  ambiguous 
nor  obscure.  You  have  pledged  yourself  to  “ renounce  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,”  and  to  “continue  Christ’s 
faithful  Soldier  and  servant  unto  your  life’s  end.”  My  brethren, 
I would  most  affectionately  urge  you  to  the  inquiry.  How  am 
I fulfilling  this  vow  ? Is  it  continually  present  to  my  mind, 
that  I am  bound  by  an  obligation  of  such  infinite  importance  ? 
When  tempted  by  my  own  heart,  or  by  my  spiritual  enemies, 
is  this  the  tendency  of  my  reply,  “ How  can  I do  this  great 
wickedness,  and  sin  against  God  ?”  I who  have  dedicated 
myself  to  his  holy  service  by  so  solemn  a covenant.  Or,  like 
Jacob,  have  years  of  prosperity  and  happiness  rendered  you 
utterly  forgetful  of  your  promises  ? If  it  be  so,  we  tremble  for 
the  consequences.  You  have  seen  that  God  is  not  mocked : 
what  we  have  vowed,  God  will  see  that  we  pay,  or  will  in 
anger  and  in  judgment  visit  the  neglect  of  it.  He  has  himself 
said,  “ Pay  that  which  thou  hast  vowed.  Better  is  it  that  thou 
shouldst  not  vow,  than  that  thou  shouldst  vow  and  not  pay.” 
If  you  are  a child  of  God,  He  will  not  suffer  this  forgetfulness 
to  continue ; He  will  remind  you,  perhaps,  as  He  reminded 
Jacob,  by  some  severe  domestic  calamity — by  cutting  off  some 
creature  idol,  or  some  creature  comfort,  that  though  many  years 
may  have  passed  away,  and  the  very  tenor  of  your  vow  may 
be  almost  forgotten  by  yourself,  it  is  as  fresh  in  the  memory  of 
God  as  if  you  were  now  pledging  yourself  before  his  mercy- 
seat:  for  with  Him  “ a thousand  years  are  but  as  yesterday.” 
Oh ! do  not  compel  the  Almighty  to  have  recourse  to  his 
“ strange  work  in  a single  moment  He  can  strike  a blow, 
the  effects  of  which  would  carry  you,  with  a wounded  spirit 
and  a broken  heart,  through  a course  of  lingering  wretchedness 
to  a premature  grave.  And  after  this,  there  is  more  that  He 
can  do  ; “ God  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell.” 
Be  warned,  then,  we  earnestly  beseech  you  ; remember  your 
vow,  your  baptismal  vow  ; “ Remember  from  whence  thou  art 


178 


JACOB. 


ftillen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first  works  the  sceptre  of  mercy 
is  still  extended  ; wait  not  until  it  be  exchanged  for  the  rod  of 
judgment.  “ Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  so  ye  perish 
from  the  right  way,  if  his  wrath  be  kindled,  yea  but  a little. 
Blessed  are  all  they  that  put  their  trust  iii  Him.” 


LECTURE  VI. 

Genesis  xxxv.  2. 

Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  household,  and  to  all  that  were  with  him,  Put 
away  the  strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  be  clean,  and  change 
your  garments.” 

Our  last  Lecture  concluded  with  the  very  striking  remon- 
strance from  tlie  Almighty  to  Jacob,  which  precedes  the  words 
of  the  text,  and  was  intended  to  remind  him  of  his  forgotten 
vow^  and  to  urge  upon  him  the  accomplishment  of  his  neglected 
promise.  Jacob,  as  we  have  seen,  had  long  lived  in  sad  forget- 
fulness of  those  peculiar  mercies  of  God,  which  he  had  pledged 
liimself  to  commemorate.  He  had  too  long  resided  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  persons  who  knew  not  God,  and  deeply 
had  he  suffered  in  his  family  by  this  approximation.  For  he 
had  lived  to  behold  his  children  guilty  of  sins,  at  the  bare  recital 
of  which,  humanity  shudders ; but  Jacob  was  a man  of  God  ; 
and  though  on  some  occasions,  certainly  deficient  in  the  proper 
exercise  of  parental  authority,  so  acutely  did  he  feel  the  guilt 
of  his  children,  so  sensible  was  he  of  their  alienation  from  God, 
that  we  find  him,  in  the  text,  making  every  endeavour  which  a 
godly  parent  could  make  to  reform  them,  and  even  in  the  closing 
scene  of  his  life,  thus  strongly  reprobating  their  unholy  conduct : 
— “ O my  soul ! come  not  thou  into  their  secret ; unto  their 
assembly,  mine  honour,  be  not  thou  united  “ cursed  be  their 
atiger,  for  it  was  fierce,  and  their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel.” 
There  are  few  things  whicii  plant  so  sharp  a thorn  in  the 


LECTURE  VI. 


179 


heart  of  a parent,  and  more  especially  of  a Christian  parent,  as 
the  knowledge  that  his  children  are  not  walking  in  the  way  of 
God’s  commandments,  that  their  hearts  are  not  right  with  God. 
But  there  is  a circumstance  which  can  even  sharpen  that 
thorn,  and  add  poignancy  to  the  wounds  which  it  inflicts,  viz., 
the  conviction  in  the  mind  of  the  parent,  that  every  effort  has 
not  been  made,  every  prayer  been  offered,  every  example  set 
before  his  children,  which  might,  instrumentally,  have  won 
them  to  the  love  of  God,  and  to  the  paths  of  holiness.  This  it 
is  which  causes  the  thorn  to  rankle  ; and  from  this  we  fear  that 
Jacob’s  bosom  was  not  entirely  free.  Had  he  not  permitted 
his  daughter  to  mingle  unnecessarily  with  the  daughters  of  the 
unbelievers,  (in  the  words  of  the  historian,)  “ to  go  out  to  see 
the  daughters  of  the  land,”  he  had  not  lamented  her  ruin. 
Had  he  not,  at  that  critical  period,  “ held  his  peace,”  and  com- 
mitted the  management  of  his  family  too  much  to  the  ungovern- 
able passions  of  his  sons,  he  had  not  been  made  thus  wretched 
by  their  enormities. 

How  few  are  the  sufferings  of  ourselves,  or  of  our  families, 
which  we  may  not  trace  to  our  own  infirmities  or  sins  ! What 
an  additional  motive  for  a charitable  view  of  the  conduct  of  those 
around  us,  and  for  carefully  scrutinizing  our  own ! Christian 
parents,  examine  seriously  and  conscientiously,  how  much  of 
the  present  worldliness  and  frivolity,  and  even  sinfulness  of 
your  children,  is  attributable  to  yourselves.  How  much  of 
guilt  to  them,  and  of  anguish  to  you,  might  have  been  escaped, 
had  you  early,  consistently,  ancj  prayerfully  educated  them 
according  to  the  privileges  and  the  duties  of  their  baptismal 
covenant,  in  a sincere  renunciation  of  “ the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil  ?”  The  promises  of  God  that  this  would  not 
have  been  ineffectual,  are  most  ample  and  most  encouraging  ; 
for  has  he  not  expressly  declared  to  his  people,  “ I will  pour 
my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  upon  thine  offspring ; 
and  they  shall  spring  up  as  willows  by  the  water-courses.  One 
shall  say,  I am  the  Lord’s,  and  another  shall  call  himself  by  the 
name  of  Jacob  ; and  another  shall  subscribe  with  his  hand 


180 


JACOB. 


unto  the  Lord,  and  surname  himself  by  the  name  of  Israel.” 
How  beautiful  a picture  of  a whole  family  converted  to  the 
true  and  saving  knowledge  of  the  Redeemer,  each  in  turn 
admitted  as  the  lambs  into  the  fold  of  the  good  Shepherd,  and 
rising  up  to  call  him  blessed.  How  cheering  a prospect  for 
parents  who  are  adopting  in  faith  the  means  which  God  has 
put  into  their  power ! Do  not,  however,  let  us  be  misunder- 
stood ; as  if  the  conversion  of  the  children’s  souls  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  parents,  and  must  infallibly  be  attached  to  the  use 
of  any,  or  of  all  the  means  which  they  can  adopt ; it  is  essen- 
tially the  work  of  God’s  free  Spirit,  who  will  do  it  as  He 
pleases,  and  when  He  pleases.  These  are  among  the  secret 
“ things  which  belong  to  the  Lord  our  God,”  known  only  to 
Himself,  and  disposed  of  only  by  His  sovereign  will:  it  is 
enough,  that  if  you  desire  the  blessing,  you  must  be  found  as 
earnest  in  the  pursuit  of  it,  and  in  the  use  of  the  means,  as  if 
they  could  command  it;  but  then  you  must  trust  implicitly  to 
God’s  grace,  to  bestow  it  as  a free,  unmerited  gift.  Remember 
for  your  comfort,  it  is  only  for  our  failure  in  what  is  possible, 
that  we  shall  be  punished,  not  for  our  failure  in  that  which,  to 
all  but  God  himself,  is  impossible  ; the  heaviest  judgment  with 
which  in  holy  writ  a godly  parent  was  ever  visited,  was  not 
because  he  had  not  made  his  sons  the  pious  and  devoted  follow- 
ers of  that  almighty  Being  whom  he  himself  delighted  to  obey, 
but  simply  because  “ his  sons  made  themselves  vile,  and  he 
restrained  them  not.”  This,  most  assuredly,  Eli  might  have 
done  ; this,  in  all  probability,  Jacob  might  have  done  ; and  we 
fear  that  you  will  find  it  dilTicult  to  deny,  before  that  God  who 
seeth  the  heart,  that  this  you  also  might  have  done.  Oh  ! that 
every  Christian  parent  would  lay  this  seriously  to  heart ; and 
if  I now  address  any  of  you  who  are  conscious  that,  with 
Jacob,  you  have  erred  in  this  essential  point  of  your  duty,  may 
the  example  of  Jacob  which  we  are  about  to  review,  be  blessed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  to  your  edification  and  improvement ; 
and  while  a merciful  God  forgives  for  his  dear  Son’s  sake  your 
past  derelictions,  may  you  be  the  more  earnest  in  endeavouring 


LECTURE  VI. 


181 


to  exercise  your  parental  authority  in  the  service  of  the  King 
of  kings. 

No  sooner  had  God  recalled  to  Jacob’s  mind  his  promises 
and  his  vow,  than  we  find  the  patriarch  anxious  for  the  sancti- 
fication of  all  connected  with  him,  before  he  presumed  to  go 
up  with  them  to  Bethel,  the  house  of  God.  We  are  told, 
“ Then  Jacob  said  to  his  household,  and  all  that  were  with 
him.  Put  away  the  strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  be 
clean  and  change  your  garments.”  This  was  acting  faithfully 
and  conscientiously  towards  all  the  members  of  his  numerous 
family ; but  who  would  have  believed  that  such  a command 
could  have  been  needed  ? That  in  Jacob’s  household  there 
should  have  been  strange  gods  to  be  put  away  ? That  he,  whose 
life  had  been  a life  of  mercies,  and  of  such  intimate  communion 
with  the  true  God,  should  have  been  induced  to  countenance 
idolatry  and  ungodliness  in  his  tents  : that  his  dependents,  his 
children,  and  as  we  are  told  in  another  place,  even  Rachel,  the 
favourite  wife  of  his  bosom,  should  have  thus  fearfully  trans- 
gressed, and,  still  more  grievous,  that  this  is  the  first  lime  in 
which  we  have  heard  the  voice  of  Jacob  raised  steadily  and 
firmly  against  it.  Probably  the  patriarch  partook  so  largely 
of  the  infirmities  of  our  fallen  nature,  that  he  dared  not,  even 
though  the  honour  of  God  was  at  stake,  risk  the  anger  or  dis- 
content of  those  who  were  dear  to  him  ; perhaps,  had  such  an 
interference  been  urged  upon  him  by  any  thing  short  of  a divine 
command,  he  would  have  replied,  that  it  would  be  not  only 
painful,  but  hopeless  to  interfere  ; that  his  word  would  not  be 
heeded,  that  his  household  had  gone  too  widely  astray  from 
God  to  be  recalled  by  the  voice  of  man.  Christian  brethren, 
is  not  this  the  fallacious  manner  in  which  you  yourselves  con- 
tinually reason?  You  behold  conduct  in  those  closely  related 
to  you,  or  immediately  connected  with  you,  aye  the  very 
members  of  your  own  household,  which,  as  servants  of  God, 
you  cannot  approve  because  you  know  that  your  Master  can- 
not approve  it.  You  mark  the  rising  of  pride,  or  of  vanity,  or 
of  display  ; you  see,  perhaps,  the  younger  members  of  your 
IG 


182 


JACOB. 


families  worshipping  those  strange  deities  of  pleasure,  of  folly, 
and  of  worldliness ; the  elder  branches  bowing  the  knee  to  the 
golden  idols  of  wealth  and  human  applause,  and  you  have  re- 
frained from  expostulating  with  them  upon  their  danger  and 
their  guilt ; you  have  never  yet  said  honestly  or  fearlessly  to 
them.  You  are  upon  the  broad  road  and  the  beaten  way  which 
lead  to  destruction  ; all  your  labours  are  for  time.  Eternity,  vast, 
boundless  eternity,  does  not  enter  into  your  calculations,  and 
yet  you  stand  upon  its  verge  every  day  and  every  hour. 

If  these  members  of  your  household  perish,  if  they  be  cut 
off  in  unrepented  sin,  or  snatched  away  in  the  midst  of  a course 
of  worldly  folly,  how  will  you  answer  it  at  the  great  day  of 
account  ? If  you  beheld  a fellow-creature  perishing  for  lack  of 
food,  would  you  not  endeavour  to  supply  it  ? If  you  saw  him 
sinking  beneath  the  waters,  would  you  not  hold  out  a helping 
hand  ? How  then  can  you  justify  your  indifference,  when  it 
is  not  the  body  but  the  soul  that  is  perilled ; not  time,  but 
eternity,  which  is  at  stake  ? Perhaps  you  witness  not  these 
sins  in  your  household — all  is  orderly — all  is  outwardly  correct 
— it  is  even  what  is  called  a religious  family  ; but  then,  alas  ! 
its  members  are  content  with  a nominal  religion,  cold,  heartless, 
and  influential,  in  which  the  outward  form  is  substituted  for 
the  spiritual  grace  ; no  real  turning  of  the  heart  to  God;  no 
fervent  love  to  the  Saviour ; no  anxious  desire  of  approving 
themselves  to  him  in  all  the  daily  transactions  of  life.  This 
false  and  formal  religion  is  among  “ the  strange  gods”  of  the 
days  in  which  we  live  ; and  can  you  calmly  suffer  those  who 
are  dear  to  you  thus  to  worship  an  unknown  God  ? can  you,  in 
silence,  behold  them  mistaking  the  form  for  the  reality,  and 
building  themselves  up,”  not  “ on  our  most  holy  faith,”  but 
in  self-righteousness,  and  spiritual  ignorance,  and  self-delusion ; 
and  do  they  hear  no  warning  word  from  you  ? Have  you 
never  told  them  that  these  are  gods  which  cannot  save  ? Have 
you  never  urged,  them  to  look  into  the  deep  corruption  of  their 
own  hearts  and  to  know  themselves?  Have  you  never  dwelt 
upon  their  absolute  need  of  a better  righteousness  than  their 


LECTURE  VI. 


183 


own  to  justify  them  before  God,  “even  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  God  by  thedaith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  import 
all  them  that  believe  and  earnestly  entreated  them  to  go  to 
the  “ fountain  opened  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,”  to  which 
you  yourself  have  delighted  to  resort,  where  you  have  found 
healing  for  your  guilt,  and  peace  for  your  soul  f Have  you 
not,  in  short,  as  Jacob  did,  affectionately  urged  them : “ Put 
away  your  strange  gods,”  wash  you,  make  you  clean  ? Oh  ! 
if  your  hearts  were  really  filled  with  the  love  of  God  and  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  there  would  be  no  need  of  these  in- 
quiries : the  difficulty  would  not  be  to  speak  of  Him,  but  to 
refrain  from  speaking  of  Him  to  all  around  you  ; “like  the  pre- 
cious ointment  upon  the  head,  that  ran  down  upon  the  beard, 
even  Aaron’s  beard,  that  went  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  gar- 
ment ;”  so  would  be  the  unction  with  which  you  would  delight 
to  dwell  upon  heaven  and  heavenly  things,  lire  duties  and  the 
promises  of  the  gospel  in  all  your  intercourse  with  men,  from 
your  dearest  friend,  to  your  lowest  dependent. 

Proceed  we  now  to  mark  what  was  the  effect  in  Jacob’s 
case,  of  his  fixithful  expostulation.  Did  his  family  resist  the 
command  ? were  his  words  spoken  in  vain  ? So  far  from  it, 
that  the  very  verse  which  follows  assures  us,  that  immediately 
upon  his  bidding,  without  a single  exception,  a single  denial, 
“ they  gave  unto  Jacob  all  the  strange  gods  which  were  in  their 
hands,  and  all  the  earrings  which  were  in  their  ears,  and  Jacob 
hid  them  under  the  oak  which  was  by  Shechem.”  Such  is 
continually  the  manner  in  which  a duty,  difficult  and  hopeless 
in  the  prospect,  is  rendered  easy  and  successful,  the  moment 
we  have  sufficient  faith  to  attempt  to  carry  it  into  execution. 
Such,  we  firmly  believe,  would  be  the  result  of  an  honest 
declaration  upon  these  important  points,  in  an  infinitely  greater 
number  of  instances,  than  even  the  most  faithful  Christian 
anticipates  ; and  we  cannot  doubt  that  we  shall  hereafter  behold 
many  among  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  who  might  have  been 
“ our  joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing,”  had  we  been  more  faithful 
to  them,  or  more  industrious  in  the  work  of  God,  placed  as 


184 


JACOB. 


jewels  in  the  crown  of  some  brother  Christian,  who  dared  to 
speak  when  we  were  silent,  or  to  labour  when  we  were  sloth- 
ful and  indifferent.  For  be  assured,  brethren,  that  where 
expostulation  is  offered  in  a truly  Christian  spirit,  and  where 
the  life  and  temper  of  the  speaker  are  not  widely  at  variance 
with  it,  men  do  listen,  and  listen  willingly,  much  more  fre- 
quently than  we  imagine  ; and,  although  no  instantaneous  effect 
be  produced,  some  arrow  may  be  fixed  in  the  conscience  which 
is  never  afterwards  extracted  ; some  seeds  sown  in  the  memory, 
which  may  lie  dormant  for  years,  but  at  last  take  root  down- 
wards, and  bear  fruit  upwards,”  when  “ the  sower  who  went 
forth  to  sow”  that  seed,  has  long  since  finished  his  work,  and 
been  called  to  his  reward.  Surely,  if  you  consider  this,  and 
reflect  upon  the  unspeakable  blessedness  of  being  instrumental 
in  converting  but  one  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  ways,  or 
bringing  one  soul  nearer  to  its  God,  you  will  deeply  regret  the 
many  opportunities  you  have  already  lost,  and  anxiously  avail 
yourself  of  the  smallest  opening  for  future  usefulness  to  which 
the  finger  of  God  shall  point  you.  It  is  when  our  lips  are 
closed  by  sickness,  or  our  labours  in  the  service  of  our  divine 
Master  unexpectedly  suspended  by  the  inscrutable  will  of  our 
heavenly  Father,  that,  for  the  first  time,  we  rightly  estimate  the 
gracious  privilege  of  having  ever  been  permitted  to  “ put  our 
hand  to  the  plough,”  in  this  great  and  glorious  work;  then, 
indeed,  we  only  regret  that  while  health  and  strength  were 
bestowed  upon  us,  we  were  not  more  willing  “ to  spend  and 
be  spent”  for  God ; that  we  did  not  give  greater  diligence  in 
the  work  of  our  high  calling ; that  we  were  not  more  “ instant 
in  season  and  out  of  season,”  affectionately  urging  these  great 
truths  upon  the  hearts  of  all  with  whom  we  had  to  do. 

Very  encouraging  is  it  to  observe  the  manner  in  which,  after 
Jacob  had  purified  his  household  and  performed  his  promised 
vow,  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him,  and  not  only  confirmed  the 
change  of  his  name,  but  repeated  to  him  the  blessed  assurances 
of  his  temporal  and  spiritual  greatness.  Perhaps,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  closing  scene  of  Jacob’s  life,  this  was  the  season  of  his 


LECTURE  VI. 


185 


greatesl  happiness  ; his  family  and  his  household  brought  in  ap- 
parent sincerity  to  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  the  greatest  bless- 
ing, (next  to  the  conversion  of  his  own  soul,)  which  the  servant 
of  God  can  enjoy.  In  addition  to  this,  every  comfort  that  worldly 
prosperity  could  offer  was  possessed  by  him.  Every  joy  that 
the  anticipation  of  the  future  could  bestow  was  insured  to  him  ; 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him  to  desire.  Alas  ! how  closely 
connected,  in  this  vale  of  tears,  are  our  sorrows  and  our  joys. 
Bethel  beheld  Jacob  at  the  summit  of  worldly  happiness. 
Bethlehem,  the  next  town  through  which  he  passes  on  his 
return,  sees  him  in  the  very  depths  of  affliction,  a sorrowing 
widower  ! Rachel,  his  beloved  partner,  is  taken  from  him  in 
a moment ! and  (peculiarly  distressing  to  his  feelings)  while 
giving  birth  to  a second  son.  Her  passionate  exclamation  had 
been,  “ Give  me  children,  or  else  I die.”  Her  prayer  was 
heard,  the  children  given,  but  her  life  was  the  forfeit  of  her 
undue  anxiety.  When  shall  we  learn  that  it  is  God  alone 
who  really  knows  what  is  best  for  his  people,  and  that,  in  all 
temporal  affairs,  the  safest  path  for  the  Christian  is  to  put  a 
blank  into  the  hands  of  his  heavenly  Father,  that  He  may 
write  in  it  what  he  will,  while  we  are  content  to  say  from  the 
heart,  “ It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  God.” 
Here  alone  is  our  safety  and  our  comfort : “ Sweet  to  lie  passive 
in  God’s  hands,  and  know  no  will  but  his.” 

While  the  soul  of  Rachel  was  departing,  her  attendants  en- 
deavoured to  cheer  her,  saying : “ Fear  not,  thou  shalt  have 
this  son  also.”  But,  like  the  wife  of  Phineas,  “ she  answered 
not,  neither  did  she  regard  it.”  Life  was  too  quickly  ebbing 
to  permit  her  to  rejoice  even  in  the  acquisition  she  had  so  long 
and  so  ardently  desired.  Weak  and  miserable  are  the  com- 
forters of  the  world  when  they  endeavour  to  gladden  the 
chamber  of  sickness,  or  the  bed  of  death,  by  promises  of  worldly 
blessings,  or  the  recollection  of  worldly  advantages.  Of  what 
avail  was  it  to  the  dying  mother  to  be  told,  that  she  should 
leave  behind  her  another  little  one  to  be  tempest-tossed  upon 
that  ocean  from  which  she  was  so  fast  recedintj?  Of  what 

IG* 


186 


JACOB. 


avail  is  an}^  thing  tliat  worldly  friendship  can  suggest  at  such 
an  hour  ? “ Fear  not the  language  of  Rachel’s  friends  is, 

indeed,  the  universal  language  at  these  seasons  of  terror  and 
dismay ; and  too  often  the  injunction,  not  of  holy  confidence, 
bjit  of  ignorance  or  presumption.  For  is  there  no  rational 
ground  of  fear  ? Is  it  nothing  that  we  are  about  to  suffer  that 
wrench  which  separates  the  body  and  the  soul,  that  have  been 
so  long  and  such  intimate  companions  ? Is  it  nothing,  that  we 
are  about  to  put  off  this  mortal  clothing,  and  to  stand  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Him,  “ to  whom  all  hearts  are  open,  and 
from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid  ?”  Are  not  these  things  fitting 
objects  of  fear  ? Who  is  there,  carrying  about  with  him  a 
body  of  sin  and  death,  wlio  will  deny  it  ? To  the  worldling, 
this  must  be  indeed  a fearful,  as  to  the  disciple  of  our  Lord,  it 
must  still  be  a most  solemn  hour.  But  blessed,  for  ever  blessed 
be  our  Redeemer  ! He  came  “ to  deliver  them  who,  through  fear 
of  death,  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.”  He 
came,  not  only  to  draw  the  sting  of  death,  but  to  remove  the 
fear.  We  may  now  in  safety  adopt  the  language  of  Rachel’s 
friends,  and  say  to  every  true  believer  among  you.  Do  you  fear 
death  ? “ Fear  not.”  That  Saviour  to  whose  holy  keeping 

you  have  committed  your  soul,  has  said,  “ I will  redeem  thee 
from  death  ; O death,  I will  be  thy  plague.”  Do  you  fear  the 
grave  ? “ Fear  not the  same  Saviour  has  said,  “ O grave, 

I will  be  thy  destruction.”  It  is  no  longer  the  impure  and 
tainted  sepulchre,  but  the  bed  perfumed  by  the  body  of  Him 
who  once  himself  lay  there.  The  way  to  it  is  no  longer  a 
dark  and  untrodden  passage,  for  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof, 
and  the  print  of  his  footsteps  is  visible  throughout  all  its  dreary 
windings.  Do  you  fear  the  resurrection  ? “ Fear  not?”  it  is 

no  more  a vague  uncertainty  ; for  the  unerring  word  of  God 
has  revealed,  “ If  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from 
the  dead,  dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead, 
shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his  Spirit  that  dwell- 
eth  in  you.”  Do  you  fear  the  descent  of  “ the  great  white 
throne,”  of  which  God’s  word  has  told  us  ? “ Fear  not 


LECTURE  VI. 


187 


tlie  Judge  who  sits  upon  it  is  that  dear  and  precious  Saviour, 
“ whom  having  not  seen,  ye  love  ; in  whom,  though  now  ye 
see  Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable, 
and  full  of  glory:  receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  even  the 
salvation  of  your  souls.”  Do  you  fear  the  eternity  which 
shall  succeed  ? “ Fear  not it  will  not  be  too  long  for  the 

enjoyment  of  the  “ inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven”  for  the  redeemed  of  tlie 
Lord,  and  to  be  employed  in  his  service,  and  to  his  glory. 


LECTURE  VII. 

I 

Genesis  xlv.  part  of  26th  verse. 

And  Jacob’s  heart  fainted,  for  he  believed  them  not.” 

The  chapter  with  which  our  observations  commence  this 
morning,  viz.,  the  37th,  open  thus  : “ And  Jacob  dwelt  in  the 
land  wherein  his  father  was  a stranger  ; in  the  land  of  Canaan.” 
There  is  a peculiar  emphasis  in  these  words:  Jacob  dweW^ 
as  a resident  in  the  land.  Isaac  had  been  content  to  be  a stran- 
ger there.  Jacob  had  become  great,  and  wealthy,  and  power- 
ful, and  was  no  longer  willing,  as  his  father  and  his  grandfather 
had  been,  “ to  sojourn”  (so  the  Apostle  to  the  Hebrews  ex- 
presses it)  “in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in  a strange  country;” 
one  of  tbe  brightest  evidences  of  their  faith  in  God,  and  of  their 
anxious  expectations  of  that  “ city  which  hath  foundations.” 
But  Jacob  was  beginning  to  settle  himself  in  Canaan,  not  as  his 
temporary  resting-place,  but  his  abiding  home.  This  is  pre- 
cisely the  state  of  mind  which  the  god  of  this  world  is  always 
desirous  of  inducing : if  he  can  but  succeed  in  tempting  you  to 
forget  that  this  is  not  your  rest ; if  he  can  but  encourage  you 
to  throw  all  your  heart,  and  energies,  and  affections,  into  the 
pleasures  or  business  of  this  transitory  scene : the  “ planting, 
and  building,  and  marrying,  and  giving  in  marriage;”  “the 


188 


JACOB. 


sitting  down  to  work,  and  the  rising  up  only  to  play,”  of  this 
temporary  state  of  existence,  his  end  is  gained.  Heaven  is 
neglected  ; Christ  is  despised ; God  is  forgotten ; the  soul 
sleeps — and  who  will  venture  to  say  that  it  shall  awaken  until 
the  last  trump  of  the  Archangel  proclaim  the  irrevocable  doom— - 
“Wo,  wo  unto  you,  for  ye  have  received  your  consolation.” 

But  blessed  be  the  God  of  Jacob,  this  is  a state  from  which 
He  is  continually,  aye,  daily,  recalling  his  children.  If  the 
tree  bear  no  fruit,  does  the  careful  husbandman  give  it  up  in 
despair  ? O no  ; he  prunes  it ; he  digs  about  it ; he  loosens 
the  ground  about  its  roots,  to  let  in  the  refreshing  shower  and 
the  invigorating  sunshine.  Thus  also  does  the  great  Hus- 
bandman, when  He  beholds  his  children  settling  down  in  fruit- 
less forgetfulness  ; He  brings  upon  them  some  afflictive  visita- 
tion, or  some  awakening  providence,  or,  by  what  we  term 
some  accidental  change  of  circumstances,  He  uproots  them  from 
the  place  in  which  they  have  long  lived  peaceably  and  at  ease, 
and  thus  says  aloud  to  the  ear  and  to  the  heart,  “ Arise  and  de- 
part, for  this  is  not  your  rest.”  That  such  is  assuredly  the 
Almighty’s  method  with  his  people,  the  experience  of  many 
among  us  will  abundantly  testify.  But  it  is  one  of  those  im- 
portant truths  which  do  not  depend  merely  on  personal  experi- 
ence for  their  acceptance  ; it  is  a matter  of  express  revelation 
in  God's  holy  word.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  “ Moab  hath  been 
at  ease  from  his  youth,  and  he  hath  settled  on  his  lees,  and 
hath  not  been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel ; therefore  his  taste 
remaineth  in  him,  and  his  scent  is  not  changed.”  How  accu- 
rate a description  of  one,  whose  roots  the  Lord  hath  never 
shaken  by  affliction,  or  adversity,  or  change,  and  whose  natural 
taste  and  feelings  remain  unaltered  ! Observe  how  the  prophet 
proceeds : “ Therefore,  behold  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord, 
that  I will  send  unto  him  wanderers,  that  shall  cause  him  to 
wander,  and  shall  empty  his  vessels,  and  shall  break  their  bot- 
tles.” So  was  it  with  Jacob  ; he  had  “ settled  upon  his  lees,” 
and  he  was  dwelling  in  the  land  in  which  he  ought  to  have 
felt  himself  only  a passing  stranger. 


LECTURE  VII. 


189 


My  Christian  brethren,  if  I address  any  who  are  falling  into 
this  too  common  and  too  dangerous  a mistake  ; any  of  you 
^ upon  whom  the  world  has  smiled,  and  whom  a long  series  of 
prosperous  events,  a course  of  uninterrupted  health,  or  of  do- 
mestic happiness,  have  tempted  to  establish  yourself  in  false 
security  here  below,  be  timely  warned  by  the  dealings  of  the 
Almighty  with  the  patriarch,  how  he  will  also  deal  with  you. 
He  will  no  more  permit  his  children  thus  to  sleep  away  their 
souls,  than  (as  we  have  seen  from  former  incidents  in  Jacob’s 
life)  He  will  permit  them,  unchecked,  to  sin  them  away.  Our 
Lord  has  himself  declared  that  He  “ stands  at  the  door  and 
knocks”  by  his  ministers,  by  his  Spirit,  by  his  providences  ; 
and  be  assured,  that  if  you  are  a child  of  his.  He  will  not 
cease  to  knock  ; every  stroke  will  be  louder  and  harsher,  and 
more  appalling,  until  He  has  roused  you  from  your  lethargy, 
until  you  have  opened  to  Him  your  whole  heart,  and  received 
Him  as  your  full  and  sufficient  Saviour.  Do  not  then,  content 
yourself  with  a land  in  which  the  real  people  of  God  have  al- 
ways rejoiced  to  account  themselves  as  strangers.  Do  not  be 
in  love  with  a world  which  is  at  enmity  with  God  ; but  as  the 
Psalmist  says,' “ delight  thyself  in  the  Lord,”  He  alone  can 
give,  “ and  He  shall  give  thee  the  desires  of  thine  heart.” 
Proceed  we  now  to  mark  how  God,  in  mercy,  was  about  to 
exemplify  this,  in  his  treatment  of  the  patriarch;  to  break  the 
cisterns  which  Jacob  had  hewn  out  for  himself,  but  which 
could  hold  no  water ; to  empty  the  earthen  vessels  in  which 
his  soul  delighted ; and,  in  this  last  stage  of  his  pilgrimage,  to 
compel  him  to  wander  into  a strange  country,  and  to  finish  his 
days  in  a foreign  land. 

The  instructive  and  well  known  history  of  Joseph  forms  the 
comment  upon  this  observation  ; and  how  dexterously  does  the 
inspired  historian  prepare  us  for  the  event,  even  by  the  open- 
ing passage  of  that  history — “ Now  Israel  loved  Joseph  more 
than  all  his  children.”  Whenever  the  Almighty  needs  a rod 
to  chasten  us,  our  passions  and  affections,  our  own  preferences 
and  partialities,  have  always  one  at  hand  to  offer  him.  God 


190 


JACOB. 


was  about  to  call  Israel  to  remembrance  ; a gentle  blow  would 
been  unavailing ; it  was  to  be  given  with  a tender  hand  : but  it 
must  be  sharp,  that  it  must  be  acutely  felt;  and  heavy,  that  it 
may  be  long  remembered.  The  Almighty  does  not  take  away 
Levi,  or  Judah,  or  Zebulon,  the  sons  of  the  little-regarded 
Leah,  but  Joseph,  the  son  of  the  tenderly-beloved  Rachel ! 
her  first-begotten  son  ; him  whom  Jacob  loved  more  than  all  his 
children.  How  often  in  the  lives  of  God’s  people  is  this 
great  lesson  taught  us,  to  be  most  jealous  over  the  affection 
which  we  hestow  upon  created  beings.  It  is  to  God  alone, 
as  revealed  to  you  in  the  person  of  his  dear  Son,  that  your 
whole  heart,  and  soul,  and  strength,  may  go  out  in  the  exercises 
of  gratitude  and  love  without  excess,  and  without  sin ; it  is 
Him  alone  that  you  may  love  without  measure  and  without  re- 
serve ; for  He  has  promised,  that  the  more  you  love  Him,  the 
more  you  shall  be  loved  of  his  Father ; the  more  He  himself 
will  love  you,  and  the  more  clearly,  the  more  perfectly  He  will 
manifest  himself  to  you.  You  cannot  be  too  often  cautioned, 
to  permit  none  to  divide  with  God  the  sovereignty  of  your 
lieart ; be  it  a wife,  a husband,  a child,  a parent,  or  a friend, 
whom  it  delights  you  to  array  in  every  fancied  excellency,  and 
then  to  worship  the  work  which  your  own  hands  have  made, 
be  assured  yon  are  but  adorning  the  victim  for  the  sacrifice,  and 
accelerating  the  blow  from  which  your  soul  would  shrink. 
You  are,  perhaps,  withdrawing,  day  by  day,  from  God,  all  the 
highest  feelings  and  affections  of  your  bosom,  and  are  fondly 
hanging  them  around  the  earthly  object  of  your  love  ; but  are 
you  aware  of  what  you  are  doing  ? do  you  at  all  anticipate  the 
inevitable  result?  You  are  merely  erecting  a mark,  at  which 
the  unerring  shaft  shall  be  pointed,  and  when  the  bow  of  God’s 
vengeance,  or  it  may  be  of  love — for  he  strikes  in  mercy, 
and  wounds  only  to  heal — when  that  bow  of  God  shall  be  bent, 
the  first  and  sharpest  arrow  from  the  quiver  will  be  pointed  at 
the  mark  which  you  yourself  have  set  up,  and  your  idol  will 
infallibly  be  levelled  in  the  dust.  All  that  remained  to  Jacob 
of  his  once  too  dearly-beloved  Joseph,  was  “ the  coat  of  many 


L E C T U R E V I I. 


191 


colours,”  the  sad  memorial  of  liis  unjust  partiality;  all  tliat 
will  remain  to  you  to  soothe  the  pangs  of  memory,  will  be  the 
recollection  of  the  departed,  embittered  by  the  remembrance  of 
your  own  guilty  preferences  for  the  creature  above  the  Creator. 

Years  passed  away,  and  while  Jacob  was  thus  refining  in 
the  furnace  of  afHiction,  many  vicissitudes  of  light  and  shadow 
were  falling  upon  his  path,  and  the  Almighty  was  preparing  for 
him  a place  of  peaceful  repose  in  which  to  close  the  years  of 
his  pilgrimage ; at  the  very  time  that  Jacob  was  mourning  the 
loss  of  Joseph,  and  refusing  to  be  comforted,  God  was  with 
this  same  Joseph,  elevating  him  by  steps  the  most  remarkable 
and  improbable,  from  a dungeon  to  a throne,  and  placing  him 
in  the  “second  chariot”  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  It  was  then 
that  those  deeply  interesting  scenes  took  place  with  which  we 
have  all,  from  our  childhood,  been  acquainted,  and  which  have 
so  often  excited  our  early  commiseration,  and  bade  our  infant 
sorrows  flow.  For  who  is  there  among  us,  upon  whose  me- 
mory those  scenes  have  not  been  indelibly  impressed?  Who 
has  not  delighted  to  trace  the  ascending  path  of  the  virtuous 
and  godly  Joseph,  and  to  behold  him  rising,  whether  in  a prison 
or  a court,  to  the  most  confidential  employments,  and  the  high- 
est offices,  because  he  feared  God  and  walked  in  his  ways  ? 
Who  has  not  traced  with  deepening  interest  every  passage  of 
that  instructive  tale,  the  famine  in  Canaan,  driving  Joseph’s 
brethren  into  Egypt  to  fulfil  unwittingly  his  dream,  and  to  bow 
themselves  down  before  his  footstool  ? The  money  and  the 
silver  cup  discovered  in  the  mouth  of  their  sacks  ; their  con- 
science-stricken exclamation,  “ We  are  verily  guilty  concerning 
our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  when  he 
besought  us  and  we  would  not  hear,  therefore  is  this  distress 
come  upon  us  ?”  And  who  has  not  wept  over  the  bereave- 
ments of  the  patriarch,  when  exclaiming,  in  all  the  wretched- 
ness of  utter  desolation,  “ Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not, 
and  ye  will  take  Benjamin  away : all  these  things  are  against 
me?”  Our  limits  forbid  us  to  dwell  upon  scenes  so  familiar 
to  our  hearts  as  these : but  how  can  we  pass  over  without  a 


192 


JACOB. 


comment,  the  faithless  repinings  of  Jacob,  “ all  these  things 
are  against  me  ?”  Had  he  followed  the  Lord  for  an  hundred 
and  thirty  years,  and  lived  upon  the  richest  bounties  of  his  pro- 
vidence and  grace,  and  did  he  really  believe  at  last  that  any 
dispensation  of  the  Almighty  could  be  against  him?  Well 
might  the  Psalmist  say,  “ Lord ! what  is  man,  that  thou  art 
mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  so  regardes t him  ?” 
Surely,  nothing  but  infinite  condescension  and  infinite  love, 
could  have  ever  borne  with  such  faithlessness  and  ingratitude. 
In  all  this  trying  visitation  which  so  depressed  the  patriarch, 
there  was  not  literally  a single  circumstance  which  the  Al- 
mighty was  not  overruling  for  good.  To  us,  my  brethren,  to 
whom  all  is  now  disclosed,  this  is  indeed  perfectly  evident ; 
we  can  easily  demonstrate,  that  every  subject  which  Jacob  se- 
lected as  a matter  for  repining,  was  in  reality  a subject  of 
thanksgiving  and  rejoicing.  Hear  only  the  words  of  his  la- 
mentation, and  how  easily  they  are  refuted.  “ Joseph  is  not,” 
says  the  desponding  patriarch.  We  might  reply,  because  God 
has  removed  him  for  a short  time  from  your  family,  to  enable 
him  by  his  advancement  to  provide  against  the  famine  by  which 
you  would  otherwise  have  inevitably  perished.  But  “ Simeon 
is  not” — he  has  remained  in  Egypt  a comfortable  inmate  in 
his  brother’s  house.  But  “they  will  take  Benjamin  away!” 
yes,  to  hasten  the  declaration  which  is  to  comfort  your  widowed 
heart,  and  to  bring  your  long-lost  son  once  more  to  your  bo- 
som. We  acknowledge,  that  Jacob  could  not  have  known 
that  these  things  were  so,  but  then  he  also  could  not  have 
known  the  contrary ; and  if  faith  had  had  her  perfect  work, 
that  “faith  which  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen,”  he  would  not  have  viewed  only  the 
dark  side  of  the  picture,  he  would  have  reasoned,  as  he  had 
before  done  when  his  faith  was  in  fuller  exercise,  that  because 
God  had  blessed  him,  God  assuredly  would  bless  him,  and 
he  would  not,  while  in  the  hands  of  a merciful  God,  have  so 
despairingly  exclaimed,  “ All  these  things  are  against  me  !” 

My  Christian  brethren,  can  w^e  thus  animadvert  upon  the 


LECTURE  VII. 


193 


conduct  of  the  patriarch,  without  hearing  the  still  small  voice 
of  conscience  whispering  to  ourselves,  “ Thou  art  the  man  ?” 
This  has  been  thine  own  failing,  and  thine  own  sin.  Whose 
heart  does  not  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  ? who  has  not  in  the 
first  hours  of  affliction  felt,  and  spoken,  and  acted,  as  if  all  were 
lost,  as  if  hope  itself  were  fled,  as  if,  “ God  had  forgotten  to  be 
gracious,  and  shut  up  his  loving-kindness  in  displeasure  ?”  If 
some  bright  seraph  from  the  world  above  had  stood  by  us  in 
these  our  moments  of  trouble,  or  of  sorrow,  or  of  despondency, 
one  of  those  perfect  beings  whose  angel  eyes  can  view  the 
whole  of  the  dispensations  of  which  we  are  permitted  for  the 
present  only  to  see  the  dark  and  cheerless  commencement,  how 
might  he  have  convicted  us,  as  we  have  convicted  Jacob  ; how 
might  he  have  convinced  us  that  not  a single  friend,  or  comfort, 
or  blessing  “fs  not'^  unless  the  removal,  minister  in  some 
certain  measure  to  our  eternal  benefit ; that  while  we  are  say- 
ing, “all  these  things  are  against  us,”  he  would  know  that  they 
were  all  working  together  for  good ; that  though  “ Joseph  be 
not,  and  Simeon  be  not,  and  Benjamin  be  taken  away,”  not  one 
blow  has  been  struck,  not  one  privation  has  been  inflicted,  not 
one  inroad  upon  our  happiness  has  been  made,  which  mercy 
could  have  spared,  or  which  could  have  been  withheld  without 
imparting  real,  lasting  injury  to  our  immortal  souls.  Learn 
then  to  trust  God,  even  when  you  are  unable  to  trace  Him  ; 
and  if  the  dispensation  be  so  dark  that  no  ray  of  love,  no  gleam 
of  mercy  appear  to  penetrate  it ; if  blow  follow  blow  in  quick 
and  fearful  succession,  and  one  blessing  after  another  be  removed, 
and  one  hope  after  another  wither,  be  assured  that  what  “ thou 
knowest  not  now,  thou  shall  know  hereafter,”  and  instead  of 
saying  with  the  desponding  Jacob,  “ all  these  things  are  against 
me,”  say  with  the  confiding  Job,  “ Though  he  slay  me,  yet 
will  I trust  him  ;”  and  let  the  winds  of  adversity,  the  more 
bleakly  and  coldly  they  blow,  only  drive  you  the  closer  to  that 
bosom,  where  every  child  of  God  finds  shelter  and  support. 

The  time  would  fail  me  were  I to  tell  of  all  the  minute  and 
interesting  details  which  issued  in  Joseph’s  acknowledgment 


194 


JACOB. 


of  himself,  his  pardon  of  his  repentant  bretliren,  and  his  afTeo 
donate  message  to  his  aged  parent.  It  is  of  more  importance 
to  ourselves,  and  more  intimately  connected  with  the  biography 
we  are  prosecuting,  to  observe  the  patriarch’s  conduct  at  the 
joyful  termination  of  his  long  and  grievous  trial.  We  read 
then,  that  his  sons  “ went  up  out  of  Egypt,  and  came  into  the 
land  of  Canaan,  unto  Jacob  their  father,  and  told  him,  saying, 
Joseph  is  yet  alive,  and  he  is  governor  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt;  and  Jacob’s  heart  fainted,  for  he  believed  them  not.” 
How  beautiful  and  how  touching  a picture ! Yet  even  here, 
how  do  the  infirmities  of  our  nature  manifest  themselves  ! The 
intelligence  is  now  too  good  to  be  true.  Jacob’s  heart  fainted, 
and  he  could  not  believe  it.  He  had  never  hesitated  to  believe 
when  the  intelligence  was  most  heart-rending  and  afflicting : 
when  all  things  were  against  him,  he  was  ready  and  willing  to 
believe  all,  nay  more  than  all,  that  could  be  told  him.  He  did 
not  for  a moment  doubt  the  severity  of  God  ; he  reserved  these 
misgivings  only  for  the  mercies  of  his  heavenly  Father.  How 
accurate  a picture  of  the  operations  of  the  human  mind  in 
higher  things ; so  ready  to  receive  all  the  darker  shades  with 
which  men  portray  the  features  of  the  Almighty.  So  “slow  of 
heart  to  believe”  even  his  own  declarations  when  they  speak 
only  of  tenderness,  forgiveness,  and  love.  How  often  do  we 
behold  this  manifested  upon  a bed  of  sickness,  or  in  the  chamber 
of  death  ! nay,  is  it  not  sometimes  visible  in  the  very  temple  in 
which  we  are  now  assembled,  and  among  yourselves  ? When 
we,  the  ministers  of  Christ,  come  to  you  in  the  name  of  our 
divine  Master,  and  desire  to  present  you  with  the  freest  and  tlie 
richest  offers  of  his  Gospel ; when  we  endeavour  to  approach 
you,  “as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,”  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  him  • when  we  strive  to  tell  you,  what  no  tongue  can 
worthily  tell,  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  of  the  free, 
and  full,  and  finished  salvation  which  he  worked  out  for  you, 
and  earnestly  entreat  you  to  “ receive  the  atonement,”  to  accept 
the  free  and  proffered  gifts,  and  to  enter  at  once  into  fellowship 
with  the  divine  and  affectionate  Giver,  that  your  sins  may  be 


LECTURE  VII. 


195 


forgiven,  your  incapabilities  removed,  your  inheritance  secured, 
that  you  may  thus  go  on  your  way  rejoicing,  what  is  the 
feeling  with  which  you  too  often  hear  us  ? Is  it  not  with 
this  which  Jacob  manifested  ? There  is  a degree  of  distrust 
lingering  in  your  bosom.  It  cannot  be  that  the  way  of  salva- 
tion is  so  simple  ! That  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  is  so 
abundant!  It  would  be  presumptuous  in  me  to  apply  such 
offers  to  myself!  Is  it  not  thus  that  your  hearts  faint  through 
unbelief?  Christian  brethren,  be  assured,  that  even  under  this, 
its  most  plausible  aspect,  even  when  thus  disguised  in  the 
garment  of  humility,  unbelief  can  never  be  gratifying  to  God  ! 
He  who  believes  God  the  most  readily,  and  accepts  his  offers 
the  most  willingly,  and  embraces  the  promised  privileges  the 
most  closely  and  unreservedly,  be  assured  he  honours  God 
most.  For  however  we  may  imagine  the  contrary,  it  is  simply 
unbelief  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  our  hesitation,  and  tempts 
us  to  reject  the  proffered  inheritance,  because  we  doubt  the 
voice  which  offers  it.  If  your  heart  faint  within  you  because 
the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ  is  too  simple,  too  gratuitous,  too 
abundant  to  be  true,  let  your  earnest  prayer  be,  “ Lord,  I 
believe,  help  thou  mine  unbelief !”  and  relax  not  your  endea- 
vours, cease  not  from  this  prayer,  until  you  have,  by  the  grace 
given  unto  you,  received  all  that  the  Gospel  has  spoken,  and  taken 
the  Saviour,  as  your  own  full  and  sufficient  Saviour,  to  your 
heart.  This  it  is  which  can  alone  give  peace  to  the  wounded 
conscience  and  rest  to  the  troubled  soul — the  reposing  it  for  time 
and  for  eternity  upon  the  one  great  oblation  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  offered,  and  which  his  Spirit  is  ever  ready  to 
apply  to  all  who  seek  it. 

Jacob’s  incredulity  (natural  as  it  unquestionably  was  from  all 
that  had  preceded)  was  conquered  not  by  the  arguments  of  his 
children,  but  by  the  affectionate  and  delightful  messages  of  his 
absent  son,  and  was  soon  succeeded  by  the  most  sincere  sensa- 
tions of  gratitude  and  joy.  “ They  told  him  all  the  words  of 
Joseph  which  he  had  said  unto  them  ; and  when  he  saw  the 
wagons  which  Joseph  had  sent  to  carry  him,  the  spirit  of  Jacob 


19S 


JACOB. 


their  father  revived,  and  Israel  said  ; It  is  enough,  Joseph  my 
son  is  yet  alive,  I will  go  and  see  him  before  I die.” 

Christian  brethren,  may  the  remains  of  incredulity  in  your 
bosom  be  extinguished  by  the  same  gentle  means,  eradicated 
by  the  same  tender  method.  Unbelief  does  not  usually  yield 
to  argument ; “ With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness,” says  the  scripture,  and  experience  fully  justifies  it: 
May  the  words  which  you  are  privileged  to  hear  from  time  to 
time,  not  merely  convince  your  understanding,  but  by  the  Holy 
spirit  of  power  and  love,  be  instrumental  in  softening  and 
changing  your  heart ; the  words  not  of  man,  but  of  Christ  him- 
self, inviting  you  who  thirst  to  come  without  money  and  without 
price  unto  him  and  drink  ; calling  you  who  labour  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  affectionately  assuring  you  that  he  will  give 
rest ; may  these  his  own  declarations,  accompanied,  as  they 
will  be  to  all  who  seek  it,  by  the  felt  and  acknowledged  pre- 
sence of  Him  who  spake  them,  fully  satisfy  you  that  the 
invitations  of  your  Redeemer,  that  the  offers  of  his  purchased 
inheritance,  are  not  too  free,  not  too  bountiful,  not  too  unre- 
stricted, to  be  most  literally  and  most  blessedly  true.  And  as 
the  spirit  of  Jacob  revived  when  he  beheld  the  wagons  which 
were  to  convey  him  to  his  son,  so  may  it  be  your  privilege, 
that  by  all  the  dispensations  which  your  Lord  shall  send  to 
bring  you  nearer  to  himself,  your  spirits  may  be  revived,  sus- 
tained, and  comforted;  and  that  in  the  very  hour  of  your  depar- 
ture from  the  country  in  which  you  are  travelling,  to  the  fair 
land  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  ri^hl  hand  of  God,  the  language 
of  your  soul  may  be,  “ It  is  enough : I am  willing  to  take  my 
journey,  not  merely  to  leave  a land  of  famine  and  of  trouble, 
or  to  throw  off  this  mortal  body  which  is  for  ever  harassed  by 
sorrow  or  tormented  by  sin,”  but  with  the  Apostle,  “ I am 
willing  rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body  that  I may  be  present 
with  the  Lord.”  “ Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart 
in  peace,  according  to  thy  word,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation.” 


LECTURE  VIII. 


197 


LECTVRE  VIIL 

GE’‘T)uSii  XL VII.  8,  9. 

And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Ja;cb,  How  old  art  thou  ? And  Jacob  said  unto 
Phaiaoh,  The  days  of  the  y ?a.rs  of  my  pilgrimage  are  an  hundred  and  thirty 
years  : few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been,  and  hav<» 
not  attained  unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the  dayp 
of  their  pilgrimage.” 

We  are  this  morning  to  review  the  closing  scene  of  the  life 
of  that  patriarch  who  has  formed  the  subject  of  the  short  course 
of  lectures  in  which  we  have  been  engaged.  Let  us,  before  we 
do  so,  return  our  sincere  and  humble  thanks  to  the  Giver  of  all 
good,  for  that  measure  of  his  grace  with  which  He  has  beew 
mercifully  pleased  to  bless  the  undertaking,  and  for  permitting 
us,  contrary  almost  to  our  expectation,  thus  to  bring  it  unin- 
terruptedly to  a conclusion.  Most  inadequately  as  this  instruc- 
tive subject  has  been  treated,  we  would  still  venture  to  believe 
that  the  divine  blessing  has  not  been  entirely  withheld ; that 
some  among  you  may  have  been  led,  while  meditating  upon 
the  life  of  this  man  of  God,  to  search  the  more  earnestly,  to 
scrutinize  the  more  carefully  your  own  bosoms,  to  observe 
whether  your  worldly  comforts  are  leading  you,  as  they  appear 
in  the  course  of  this  history  too  often  to  have  led  the  patriarch, 
further  from  God : whether  your  trials  and  your  afflictions 
have  been  the  painful,  but  salutary  means  of  bringing  you  nearer 
to  Him  ; whether  you,  like  Jacob,  are  fully  penetrated  with  a 
deep  sense  of  your  own  unworthiness  and  sin,  are  trusting  to 
the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant  and  to  that  alone,  for  your 
acceptance  with  God,  and  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth, 
are  seeking  a better  country,  and  a more  enduring  inheritance. 

If  there  be  any  among  you  who  have  been  thus  influenced 
by  the  subject  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  to  look  more 
seriously  than  you  have  hitherto  done  into  your  own  life  and 
conversation  ; and  if,  when  comparing  them  with  this  holy  man 

17* 


198 


JACOB. 


of  old,  you  find  there  is  a sad  and  fearful  difierence — that  the 
spiritual  religion  of  the  Bible  differs  widely  from  that  which 
you  have  embraced — that  the  true  and  living  faith  is  a far  more 
influential  grace  than  you  have  found  it — that  the  consistent, 
self-denying  obedience  of  this  holy  man  was  of  a very  different 
nature  from  your  own — that  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 
brought  with  it  into  his  bosom  such  peace  as  passeth  man’s 
understanding,  such  joy  and  strong  consolation  as  you  have 
never  known,  we  should,  as  a last,  as  a parting  request,  ask 
this  at  your  hands — that  you  would  “ search  the  scriptures” 
daily  for  yourselves,  with  carefulness^  thoughtfulness,  and 
prayer,  and,  with  the  Bereans  of  old,  “ see  whether  these  things 
be  so.”  Take  nothing  upon  the  credit  of  mere  human  teachers, 
but  bring  every  opinion,  every  doctrine,  every  word  of  the 
preacher  to  the  touchstone  of  divine  truth  : “ Try  the  spirits 
whether  they  are  of  God,”  and  may  the  Holy  Spirit  of  light 
and  grace  direct  you  in  your  search,  until  you  have  indeed 
discovered  the  pearl  of  great  price  ; until  you  have  found  Him 
of  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  did  write  ; and  until,  by  the 
grace  which  is  given  you.  He,  even  the  Lord  Jesus  whom  we 
preach,  “ is  made  unto  you  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and 
sanctification,  and  redemption.” 

We  resume  the  history  in  which  we  are  engaged,  at  that 
point  of  time  when  Jacob,  having  received  with  gratitude  and 
joy  the  tidings  of  his  long-lost  son,  had  formed  the  immediate 
resolution,  “ I will  go  and  see  him  before  I die.”  Doubtless 
the  delight  of  the  anticipated  meeting  was  the  predominant  feel 
ing  in  the  mind  of  the  patriarch  at  this  period,  yet  must  there 
have  mingled  with  it  some  strong  sensations  of  regret  upon 
bidding  farewell  to  scenes  endeared  to  him  by  the  blessings, 
the  mercies,  and  even  the  very  sorrows  through  which  he  had 
passed.  In  Canaan  he  had  spent  the  days  of  his  infancy  and 
his  youth  ; there  he  had  been  elevated  from  the  poor  and  house- 
less wanderer  to  the  wealthy  and  powerful  patriarch  ; and,  of- 
far  greater  importance,  there  the  Almighty  had  first  revealed 
vmiself  to  him  as  a covenant  God,  and  had  recognized  him  as 


LECTURE  VIII. 


199 


his  servant,  his  child,  his  heir  ! Neither  was  the  land  endeared 
to  Jacob  only  by  these  important  circumstances : it  was  hallowed 
also  by  many  sorrowful  and  painful  recollections.  In  Canaan 
was  the  burial-place  of  his  fond  and  partial  mother  ; there  he  had 
closed  the  eyes  of  his  father  ; and  there  also  he  had  deposited 
the  wife  of  his  bosom.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  have  been 
the  joy  with  which  the  patriarch  looked  towards  Egypt,  there 
was  sufficient  in  the  land  which  he  was  leaving  to  soberize  his 
anticipations,  and  to  send  him  in  these  moments  of  happiness 
to  the  same  throne  of  grace  which  he  had  so  often  visited  in 
trouble  and  affliction.  It  is  deeply  interesting  to  the  Christian 
to  observe  that  it  had  this  effect,  that  before  Jacob  quitted  the 
land  of  Canaan,  as  we  are  expressly  told,  even  at  Bersheba, 
the  border  town,  he  not  only  betook  himself  to  prayer,  but  he 
“ offered  sacrifice  unto  the  God  of  his  father  Isaac.”  That  is, 
he  once  more,  in  a specific  act,  declared  his  own  utter  un- 
worthiness, by  thus  not  presuming  to  approach  the  Almighty 
without  a propitiatory  offering ; and  he  again  demonstrated  to  his 
assembled  household,  that  whether  in  adversity  or  prosperity, 
in  sorrow  or  in  joy,  he  was  equally  devoted  to  the  Lord,  and 
equally  dependent  for  his  acceptance  upon  that  ever  blessed 
Redeemer,  of  whom  the  sacrifices  which  Jacob  offered  were 
the  acknowledged  types. 

Most  encouraging  was  the  reception  Jacob  met  with  from 
the  Lord,  viz.,  “ I will  go  down  with  thee  into  Egypt.”  Identi- 
cally the  same  promise  of  the  divine  presence  and  protection, 
now  that  Jacob  was  rich  and  increased  in  goods,  and  surrounded 
by  a family  of  threescore  and  ten  souls,  as  he  had  before  re- 
ceived when  he  lay  at  Bethel,  with  the  ground  for  his  bed  and 
with  the  stones  for  his  pillow,  a destitute  and  solitary  wanderer. 
He  who  knows  all  our  weakness,  well  knows  that  though  we 
may  seek  him  most  when  depressed  by  poverty  or  affliction, 
we  do  not  need  him  less  when  elated  by  abundance  or  success.  • 
If  God  be  not  with  us,  if  he  withdraw  his  protecting  hand 
from  about  our  path,  or  his  Holy  Spirit  from  our  heart,  all  the 


200 


JACOB. 


wealth  of  Egypt  will  not  make  us  rich,  and  all  the  joys  of  earth 
will  leave  us  destitute  and  comfortless  as  they  found  us. 

Under  the  divine  guidance,  Jacob  performed  in  safety  his 
long  and  wearisome  journey,  and  (according  to  the  promise  of 
the  Almjghty)  was  blessed  by  the  reunion  with  his  ^favourite  ’ 
son.  Very  simple,  and  yet  very  affecting  is  the  inspired  his- 
torian’s account  of  that  meeting.  “ And  Joseph  made  ready 
his  chariot,  and  went  up  to  meet  Israel  his  father,  to  Goshen, 
and  presented  himself  unto  him,  and  he  fell  on  his  neck,  and 
wept  on  his  neck  a good  while,”  It  is  delightful  to  observe, 
that  a long  residence  in  the  cold  and  noxious  atmosphere  of  a v 
court  had  neither  chilled  the  filial  affection  of  Joseph,  nor 
destroyed  his  reverential  respect  for  his  parent.  Although  the 
second  personage  in  Egypt,  Joseph  tarries  not  his  father’s 
arrival,  but  goes  forth  respectfully  and  dutifully  to  meet  him 
upon  the  journey.  Would  that,  at  the  present  day,  my  breth  t 
ren,  such  examples  of  filial  duty  were  less  unfrequent!  A duty 
which,  next  to  our  duty  to  God,  claims  most  imperatively  tlie 
attention  of  the  Christian.  Vain,  most  vain  and  delusive,  is 
every  profession  of  religion,  which  does  not  evidence  its  reality 
by  shedding  its  hallowed  influences  over  all  the  relative  duties 
of  life  ; which  does  not  demonstrate  that  the  truly  Christian  son 
and  daughter  are  not  only  the  most  consistent  and  obedient 
worshippers  of  their  heavenly  Father,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
the  most  cheerfully,  most  respectfully  affectionate  children  of 
their  earthly  parents.  These  are  among  the  fairest  fruits  by 
which  men  discern  the  good  tree.  Would  that  every  one  of 
our  younger  hearers  would  mark  this  most  attentively  ! For 
be  assured  that  you  cannot  honour  God  more  than  by  honour- 
ing those  whom  He  thus,  by  the  laws  of  nature,  has  placed 
over  you.  We  have  sometimes  seen  (and  we  have  seen  it  with 
grief  and  disappointment)  an  increasing  acquaintance  with  the 
great  truths  of  religion  producing  a different  effect,  and  have 
beheld  the  child  using  the  first  season  of  spiritual  light  to  discern 
and  descry  the  faults,  or  omissions,  or  ignorance  of  a parent 


LECTURE  VIII. 


201 


Be  assured  this  is  no  genuine  fruit  of  the  religion  of  Him  whose 
subjugation  to  his  earthly  parents,  and  whose  dying  solicitude 
for  the  welfare  of  his  mother,  were  among  the  brightest  traits 
of  his  all-perfect  character.  Never  can  the  constraining  love 
of  Christ  shed  abroad  in  your  bosom,  find  a more  delightful  O ’ 
appropriate  exercise,  than  while  influencing  you  to  watch  over 
the  declining  years  or  to  soothe  the  parting  hours  of  those  who 
ministered  to  your  wants  before  you  were  able  to  express  them, 
and  who  loved  you  with  the  most  unwearied  affection  at  a time 
when  you  were  known  only,  and  loved  only,  by  God  and  by 
themselves. 

The  first  incident  recorded  by  the  inspired  historian,  after  the 
reunion  between  the  aged  patriarch  and  his  favourite  son,  is  of 
a very  pleasing  and  edifying  nature,  no  less  than  the  introduc- 
tion of  Jacob  to  the  king  of  Egypt,  who  had  been  so  long  the 
patron  and  the  friend  of  Joseph.  The  particulars  of  this  meet- 
ing, while  they  afford  us  a striking  picture  of  the  simplicity  of 
manners  long  since  gone  by,  present  us  also  with  a lesson 
which  will  never  be  out  of  date,  and  which  we  beseech  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God  to  impart,  not  only  to  every  one  of  us  here 
present,  but  to  our  children  and  our  children’s  children,  to  the 
“ third  and  fourth  generation.” 

“ Joseph,”  says  the  historian,  “ brought  in  Jacob  his  father, 
and  set  him  before  Pharaoh,  and  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh.  And 
Pharaoh  said  unto  Jacob,  How  old  art  thou  ? And  Jacob  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  an 
hundred  and  thirty  years;  few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the 
years  of  my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained  unto  the  days  of 
the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the  days  of  their  pilgrim- 
age.” Such  was  the  answer  of  the  patriarch  ! And  is  this  the 
manner  in  which  an  aged  man  of  God  looks  back  upon  the 
years  that  are  fled  ? Are  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  when 
life  is  drawing  to  a close,  considered  but  a few  ? and  is  such  a 
life  as  Jacob’s  spoken  of  as  evil?  How  different  then  is 
human  life,  when  looked  back  upon  from  the  eminence  of 
threescore  years  ? how  widely  different  from  that  immeasurable 


202 


JACOB. 


long,  and  gay,  and  flowery  road  which  it  apjiears  at  ils  com- 
mencement! Yet  this  was  the  testimony  of  a wise,  a prosper- 
ous, a pious,  and,  as  life  is  constituted,  a happy  man.  He 
denominates  life,  “a  pilgrimage  he  reckons  it  by  the  “days 
of  the  years”  wliich  are  fled,  and  he  pronounces  them  “ few 
and  evil !” 

We  have,  in  the  course  of  these  Lectures,  endeavoured  fre- 
quently, plainly,  and,  we  trust,  faithfully  and  affectionately,  to 
address  our  younger  brethren  upon  those  points  in  the  life  or 
character  of  Jacob,  which  appeared  more  peculiarly  applicable 
to  their  own  ; permit  us,  then,  upon  the  present  occasion,  to 
address^  a different  class,  or  rather  permit  the  patriarch,  for  his 
words  require  neither  addition  nor  explanation;  permit  one  older 
than  yourselves  to  address  those  among  you  who  are  advanced 
in  life,  who  have  seen  its  brightest  and  its  happiest  hours,  and 
are  now  entering  upon  the  vale  of  years,  the  last  short  passage 
which  precedes  the  tomb,  and  the  eternity  awaiting  you  ! 
Listen,  while  one,  upon  whose  head  the  snows  of  six  score 
years  had  settled,  assures  you  of  this  incontestible  truth,  that 
“ few  and  evil  are  the  days  of  the  years”  of  the  longest  and  the 
holiest  life  on  earth.  How  admirable  a subject  for  self-examina- 
tion and  private  reflection ! Carefully  inquire  of  your  own 
bosoms,  whether  the  estimate  of  life  which  you  have  formed 
be  similar  to  this  of  the  patriarch  ? whether  it  so  influence  you, 
that  you  are  the  more  actively  employing  your  remaining  facul- 
ties and  years  for  the  honour  of  God,  because  they  are  “ few 
and  the  more  deeply  bewailing  the  days  that  are  passed,  and 
the  more  fervently  seeking  forgiveness  for  them,  through  the 
blood  of  Jesus,  because  they  are  “evil.”  This  is  a solemn 
inquiry ; God  grant  that  it  may  meet  with  that  reception  in 
your  bosoms  which  it  merits.  “ The  hoary  head  is  a crown 
of  glory,  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness.”  But  do 
not,  for  the  sake  of  Him  who  died  for  you,  do  not  trifle  in 
ascertaining  that  this  is  the  case  with  yourselves  ; that  you  are 
“ in  the  way  of  righteousness,”  the  Lord’s  highway,  through 
which  “ the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come  to 


LECTURE  VIII. 


203 


Zion  with  songs,  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads  ; when 
they  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall 
flee  away.”  A life  of  industry,  a life  of  honour  and  integrity, 
a life  of  success  and  of  applause  among  men,  however  long,  or 
(speaking  after  the  manner  of  men)  however  irreproachable, 
will  not  stand  the  scrutinizing  eye  of  your  God.  Essentially 
necessary  as  such  a life  unquestionably  is  as  the  fruits  of  your 
faith,  if  you  are  looking  to  it  to  usurp  the  place  of  a justifying 
righteousness  on  the  great  day  of  account,  we  warn  you,  that 
you  will  find  it  worthless  and  insufficient:  it  will  not,  it  cannot 
avert  the  condemnation  which  a broken  law  will  bring  down 
on  your  devoted  heads.  Every  other  righteousness  but  the 
righteousness  of  your  Redeemer  will,  as  the  meritorious  cause 
of  the  salvation,  be  cast  aside  as  a tattered  and  polluted  garment, 
in  the  day  when  the  King  shall  come  in  to  see  the  guests,  and 
when  much  that  has  been  highly  esteemed  among  men,  will  be 
found  to  be  but  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.”  Earnestly 
search,  therefore,  whether  the  righteousness  of  Christ  has  been 
applied  to  your  heart  by  a true  and  justifying  faith ; and 
whether,  in  obedience  to  his  commands,  you  are  living  such  a 
holy,  harmless,  unworldly  life,  as  becomes  those  who  are  not 
their  own,  but  His  who  has  bought  them  with  a price,  even  the 
price  of  His  own  precious  blood,  poured  forth  on  the  accursed 
tree,  in  full  and  ample  satisfaction  for  all  the  demands  of  an 
offended  God.  See  whether  you  are  forming  a right  estimate 
of  time  and  of  eternity,  of  heaven  and  hell.  Do  not  cling  to 
that  which  you  cannot  hold,  and  which  is  even  now  trembling 
in  your  nerveless  grasp.  Seek  something  more  durable  than 
even  the  earth  on  which  you  live ; seek  a real  saving  interest 
in  Him  whom  rightly  to  know  is  life  eternal,  and  whom  to  love 
and  to  enjoy  forms  the  delight  of  heaven,  and  the  never-weary- 
ing subject  of  its  harps.  But  if  the  urging  you  to  look  forward 
to  those  bright  scenes  beyond  your  present  horizon  do  not 
influence  you,  look  back  with  Jacob  on  the  way  which  you 
have  travelled,  and  see  if  sin  and  sorrow  have  not  stamped  the 
indelible  character  of  evil  on  every  mile  of  your  journey. 


204 


JACOB. 


“ Your  fathers,  where  are  they  ?”  the  companions  who  entered 
life  with  you,  whither  are  they  gone  ? Some  who  were  stronger, 
many  whowere  younger  than  you,  have  beencutoff:  and  if  you 
cast  a careful  glance  along  the  way  which  you  have  travelled, 
you  will  find  it  but  a line  of  cypresses  and  tombs  ; mourning 
and  death  have  left  their  traces  on  the  road,  intermingled  only 
with  mercies  and  sin. 

My  beloved  brethren  ; these  great  truths  address  themselves 
not  to  the  aged  alone,  but  to  each  and  to  all.  Whether  we 
confess  it,  or  confess  it  not,  such  is  the  melancholy  retrospect. 
Our  days  at  the  best  are  evil ; at  the  longest,  they  are  few. 
They  are  drawing  to  a close  ; and,  whether  prepared  or  un- 
prepared, we  are  moving  rapidly  forward.  The  last  stage  of 
our  journey  opens  upon  us  ; we  cannot  delay — we  cannot  for 
a single  hour,  procrastinate  its  conclusion.  And  what  a con- 
clusion will  it  be  to  those  among  us  who  are  only  alive  to  the 
labours  or  the  pleasures  of  the  journey,  but  dead  to  what  awaits 
them  upon  their  journey’s  end  ! We  dare  not  attempt  to  describe 
the  termination  of  their  path.  To  the  heart  of  a Christian,  its 
progress  is  sufficiently  appalling  : to  mark  the  careless,  thought- 
less mien  of  those  who  are  travelling  on  the  broad  road  which 
leads  to  destruction  ; to  see  the  votaries  of  folly  and  of  pleasure, 
while  good  men  are  praying  for  them,  and  the  very  angels  of 
heaven  are  weeping  at  their  obduracy  and  impenitence,  and  it 
may  be,  the  great  and  blessed  Intercessor  himself  striving  for 
them  before  the  throne  of  his  heavenly  Father,  to  see  them 
alone,  throughout  all  the  creation  of  God,  the  only  things  which 
neither  minister  to  his  glory,  nor  hymn  his  praise,  nor  deprecate 
his  unquenchable  wrath,  but  travel  on  happily  and  unconcern- 
edly, making  a mock  at  sin,  denying  the  Lord  who  bought 
them,  and  despising  the  proffered  joys  of  heaven.  To  mark 
the  daily  progress  of  a thoughtless,  careless  sinner,  is  one  of  the 
most  painful  trials  of  the  Christian  ; but,  to  describe  the  termi- 
nation is  as  impossible  as  it  would  be  agonizing  and  appalling. 
What  human  tongue  can  tell — what  finite  apprehension  con- 
ceive the  despair,  the  remorse,  tlie  agony  of  that  tremendous 


LECTURE  VIII. 


205 


(lay,  when  the  Lord  shall  “ look  out”  in  anger  on  those  who 
have  defied  his  WTath,  disdained  his  commands,  neglected  his 
Son,  when,  in  the  plain  but  emphatic  language  of  the  psalmist, 
“ The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the  people  that 
forget  God.” 

Proceed  we  to  the  concluding  scene  of  the  history  before  us. 
“ And  the  time  drew  nigh,”  says  the  inspired  historian,  “ that 
Israel  must  die.”  Let  us,  then,  in  imagination,  enter  the  tent 
of  the  departing  patriarch  : let  us  draw  round  his  dying  bed. 
We  have  followed  him  through  the  chequered  scenes  of  his 
eventful  pilgrimage  : we  have  seen  how  a man  of  God  can  live 
— let  us  now  behold  how  he  can  die.  What  a calm  scene  of 
resignation  and  of  holy  confidence  do  we  witness  ! There  is, 
indeed,  nothing  of  triumph  or  of  rapture,  but  all  bespeaks  the 
last  hours  of  one  at  peace  with  God,  and  God  with  him  ; one, 
as  he  declared  himself,  who  “ had  been  redeemed  from  all  evil.” 
We  behold  the  aged  saint,  like  a full  shock  of  corn  coming  in 
its  season,* waiting  to  be  removed  into  the  imperishable  garner. 
Joseph  and  his  sons  are  at  the  bed’s  head,  and  all  the  sons  of 
Jacob  are  gathered  round  their  departing  father.  Now  does  the 
dying  patriarch  act  faith  upon  the  promises  of  God  for  the  last 
time.  Yet  a few  short  moments,  and  faith  will  for  ever  cease 
— exchanged  for  the  perfect  vision  and  the  fullest  enjoyment. 
Yet  to  these  last  hours  has  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews  borne 
his  testimony,  when  he  said,  “ By  faith  Jacob,  when  he  was  a 
dying,  blessed  both  the  sons  of  Joseph,  and  worshipped,  leaning 
upon  the  top  of  his  staff.” 

“ Now  the  eyes  of  Israel  were  dim  for  age,  so  that  he  could 
not  see  ; and  Joseph  brought  his  sons  near  unto  him  ; and  he 
kissed  them,  and  embraced  them,”  “and  he  blessed  Joseph, 
and  said — God,  before  whom  my  fathers,  Abraham  and  Isaac, 
did  walk,  the  God  which  led  me  all  my  life  long  unto  this  day, 
the  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads 
and  having  then  proceeded  to  bless  his  assembled  family  in  a 
strain  of  prophecy  which  has  excited  the  wonder  of  the  church 
of  God,  even  to  the  present  hour,  he  thus  interrupted  his  di.s- 

18 


20G 


JACOB. 


course,  to  express  shortly,  but  emphatically,  the  last  strong 
feelings  which  filled  his  dying  bosom  : “I  have  waited  for  thy 
salvation,  O Lord.” 

Death  was  no  new  subject  to  him ; salvation  ncft  an  untried 
theme  ; the  grave  no  strange  country  ; heaven  not  an  unlooked- 
for  home.  He  had  ‘ waited  ’ for  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant, 
who  had  redeemed  him,  even  “ the  Angel  Jehovah,”  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  send  his  messenger  to  summon  him  into  the 
eternal  presence;  and  the  language  of  Jacob’s  heart  had  long 
been  this — “ I have  waited  for  thy  salvation,  O Lord.” 

All  the  ardent  expectation  of  a new  convert,  wjio  is  longing 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  tempered  by  all  the  patient  resig- 
nation of  the  aged  Christian,  who  knows,  if  the  Almighty  make 
him  wait,  it  is  for  some  wise  and  gracious  purpose,  and  feels 
assured  that  God’s  times  are  always  the  best  times.  It  was 
in  this  state  of  meek  and  peaceful  reliance  on  Him  “ in  whom 
he  had  believed,”  that  the  aged  patriarch  might  have  said  with 
Job,  “All  the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I wait  till  my 
change  come.”  That  change  was  now  at  h-and,  even  at  the 
door — a fearful  change  for  the  ungodly,  a solemn  change  for  all. 
We  read,  “ When  Jacob  had  made  an  end  of  commanding  his 
sons,  he  gathered  up  his  feet  into  the  bed,  and  yielded  up  the 
ghost,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people,”  breathing  his  placid 
soul  into  the  bosom  of  him  he  loved.  Thus,  “ the  work  of 
righteousness  \y'as  peace,  and  the  effect  of  righteousness  quiet- 
ness and  assurance  for  ever.”  Who  can  witness  it,  who  can 
hear  of  it,  even  as  we  do  this  day,  after  an  interval  of  four 
thousand  years,  without  a secret  aspiration  arising  from  his 
heart,  “ Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last 
end  be  like  his  !” 

Christian  brethren,  we  trust  we  are  addressing  many  who 
could,  at  this  moment,  say  with  the  patriarch,  “ I also  have 
waited  for  thy  salvation,  O Lord  or,  in  the  still  plainer 
language  of  the  apostle  to  the  Thessalonians,  I “ wait  for  his 
Son  from  heaven,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead,  even  Jesus, 
which  delivered  me  from  the  wrath  to  come.”  How  great  and 


LECTURE  VIII. 


207 


blessed  are  your  privileges,  if  you  are  thus  “ waiting”  to  reign 
with  him  in  glory,  upon  whom  you  have  lived  by  faith  on  earth. 
Behold  witli  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  loved  you, 
that  such  a promise  should  be  your  own  ! “ What  manner  of 
persons  ought  you  then  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  god- 
liness.” Live  worthy  of  those  unspeakable  privileges  ; cherish 
the  grace  which  God  has  so  abundantly  bestowed  upon  you,  in 
uniting  you  to  Christ  your  living  head  ; avoid  every  thing  which 
would  sully  the  brightness  of  your  faith,  or  damp  the  ardour  of 
your  grateful  love  ; live  near  to  him,  out  of  whose  fulness  you 
receive  grace  for  grace,  and  suffer  nothing  which  this  world  can 
offer  to  intimidate  you,  or  to  allure  you  to  live  contrary  to  your 
convictions,  or  to  deny  Him  before  men,  who  is  willing  to  con- 
fess you  before  the  angels  of  God. 

“ Few  and  evil  the  days  of  the  years  of  your  pilgrimage” 
still  may  be  ; many  may  be  the  crosses  to  be  carried,  the  disap- 
pointments to  be  borne,  the  troubles  to  be  endured,  but  He  who 
has  given  you  his  Son,  is  with  Him  also  freely  giving  you  all 
things.  These  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a moment;  the 
heaviness  is  but  for  night ; joy,  everlasting  joy,  will  come  upon 
the  wings  of  the  approaching  morning.  Only  relax  not  in  your 
eflbrts  ; act  not  as  if  you  thought  you  had  “ already  attained, 
either  were  already  perfect ;”  but  with  the  apostle,  “ forgetting 
those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto  those 
things  which  are  before,  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.”  The  struggles  of 
the  conflict  will  soon  be  over — every  enemy  vanquished,  every 
battle  won ; the  dust  shall  be  wiped  from  your  brow,  the  tears 
from  your  eyes ; and  the  bright  crown  to  which  you  now  are 
looking,  shall  be  your  own,  when  you  shall,  through  the  alone 
merits  of  your  Redeemer,  sit  down  with  him  of  whom  we  have 
been  speaking,  with  Abraham,  with  Isaac  and  JACOB,  amidst 
the  fulness  of  imperishable  joys,  in  your  Father’s  kingdom, 
and  upon  your  Redeemer’s  throne. 


LECTURES 


ON  THE 

HISTOEY  OF  ELISHA. 


LECTURE  I. 

1 Kings  xix.  16. 

“ Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat,  of  Abel-meholah,  shall  thou  anoint  to  be 
Prophet  in  thy  room.” 

It  has  been  iny  endeavour,  on  former  occasions,  at  this  sea- 
son, to  bring  before  my  hearers  some  of  the  most  striking  fea- 
tures in  the  lives  of  many  of  the  eminent  servants  of  God. 
Of  these  we  have  reviewed  together  the  history  of  the  father 
of  the  faithful,  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  patriarchs,  of  the 
most  zealous  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  of  the  chief  of  the 
apostles,  and  lastly,  of  Him,  who  as  far  excels  them  all,  as  the 
sun  in  the  firmament  outshines  the  lesser  lights  by  which  he  is 
surrounded,  even  our  Divine  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus^  Christ. 
There  is  still  one  class  from  which  we  have  never  yet  selected 
an  example,  a class  as  deeply  interesting  and  as  highly  instruc- 
tive as  any  to  which  we  have  referred,  viz.,  the  prophets  of 
God.  From  this,  therefore,  I have  chosen  the  subject  of  the 
present  discourses,  praying,  that  while  treating  upon  it,  I may 
be  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  Him  of  whom  Moses  and  the  pro- 
phets did  write,  and  may  discover  Him  even  amidst  the  dim 
and  shadowy  types  of  the  olden  dispensation,  and  present  Him 
to  you,  in  the  course  of  our  narrative,  with  all  His  blessed 
promises,  and  His  life-giving  doctrines,  as  clearly  through  the 
208 


LECTURE  I. 


209 


vista  of  a thousand  years,  as  his  disciples  once  beheld  him 
amidst  the  radiance  of  Mount  Tabor,  or  the  last  bright  parting 
scene  upon  Mount  Olivet. 

The  prophets  of  Israel  were  a very  remarkable  and  peculiar 
race  of  men  ; living,  generally,  in  poor  and  mean  habitations ; 
contented  with  a bare  sufficiency  to  supply  their  daily  wants ; 
rejecting  cheerfully  an  abundance  of  this  world’s  goods,  and 
yet  standing  before  kings  and  princes  as4he  accredited  ambas- 
sadors of  the  Most  High,  declaring  unhesitatingly  His  counsels,' 
and  denouncing  unshrinkingly  His  judgments  and  His  woes. 

Perhaps  among  them  all,  there  is  none  who  more  awakens 
our  sympathies,  and  interests  our  hearts  than  the  Prophet  Eli- 
sha. He  is  not  indeed  ranked  among  the  higher  order  of 
seers,  who  were  taught  by  the  Sj)irit  of  God  to  foretell  the 
great  events  of  far-distant  times,  When  he  speaks,  it  is  not 
in  the  language  of  sublimity  and  power  which  marks  the  courtly 
Isaiah  ; neither  is  it  with  the  tender  and  affecting  pathos  which 
belongs  so  peculiarly  to  the  priestly  Jeremiah ; nor  with  the 
deep,  vehement,  and  fervid  eloquence  that  distinguishes  Eze- 
kiel ; very  little  of  what  Elisha  has  said  is  recorded  ; his  life 
was  one  of  actions,  not  of  words  ; and  while  we  are  following 
his  footsteps  and  listening  to  his  voice,  we  shall  much  more  fre- 
quently be  reminded  of  our  own  blessed  and  divine  Saviour, 
than  of  any  of  the  saints  and  worthies  who  preceded  Him. 

Thus,  for  example,  we  shall  find  that  Elisha  was  not  insen- 
sible to  the  endearments  of  home,  the  attachments  and  ties  of 
friendship,  and  the  pure  and  hallowed  joys  of  ministering  to 
the  consolation  of  the  mourner,  and  partaking  of  the  sorrows 
of  the  destitute. 

The  first  mention  made  of  this  prophet  in  Holy  Writ  is  con- 
veyed in  the  words  of  the  text.  ^ 

The  course  of  that  great  and  extraordinary  man,  Elijah  the 
Tishbite,  was  drawing  towards  its  close,  and  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  had  revealed  to  him,  that  before  his  departure  hence,  he 
was  to  anoint  Hazael  to  be  king  over  Syria,  and  Jehu  to  be  king 
over  Israel ; and  then  closes  this  communication  from  on  high, 
18- 


210 


ELISHA. 


with  the  words  we  have  read  to  you,  “ And  Elisha  the  son  of 
Shaphat,  of  Abel-meholah,  shalt  thou  anoint  to  be  prophet  in 
thy  room.” 

Perhaps  to  one  upon  whose  heart  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
had  shed  a less  powerful  and  hallowing  influence,  who  had  lived 
less  continually  in  the  service  of  God,  and  enjoyed  less  habitu- 
ally the  closest  and  most  intimate  communion  with  his  Divine 
Master,  such  a commission  would  have  been  one  of  unmingled 
painfulness ; but  the  prophet  had  too  long  dwelt  among  the 
unseen  realities  of  a holier  and  a happier  state,  to  feel  any  thing 
but  delight  at  the  summons,  which  was  to  place  him  once  and 
for  ever  in  the  absolute  enjoyment  of  them. 

That  he  was  to  anoint  his  successor,  that  he  was,  without 
delay,  to  fill  up  the  post  which  he  had  so  long  and  so  toilfully 
occupied,  that  he  was  shortly  to  hear  the  words  of  his  Divine 
Master,  saying,  “ Come  up  hither,”  were  to  him  but  so  many 
calls  to  gratitude  and  praise. 

Happy  is  he  among  ourselves,  brethren,  who  can  realize 
something  of  such  a feeling.  Happy  are  you  who  are  so 
living,  that  if  you  were  told  at  this  moment  to  nominate  your 
successor  in  all  that  now  most  engrosses  your  thoughts,  your 
time,  or  your  affections,  could,  without  a struggle,  place  in 
stranger  hands  the  occupations,  duties,  beings,  nearest  to  your 
heart,  and  feel  content,  and  more  than  content,  to  resign  all  at 
God’s  bidding,  and  to  forsake  all,  for  God’s  own  presence,  and 
kingdom  and  glory. 

Although,  therefore,  this  was  the  last  command  given  to 
Elijah,  it  was  the  first  obeyed.  For  we  are  told  by  the  in- 
spired historian,  “ So  he  departed  hence,  and  found  Elisha  the 
son  of  Shaphat,  who  was  ploughing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen 
before  him,  and  he  with  the  twelfth ; and  Elijah  passed  by 
him,  and  cast  his  mantle  upon  him.” 

How  remarkable  an  interview  ! Not  a word  appears  to  have 
been  spoken ; the  prophet  had  hastened  onward  to  fulfil  his  im- 
portant commission ; he  had  travelled  from  Mount  Horeb, 
which  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Abel-meho- 


LECTURE  I. 


211 


lah,  and  when  he  arrives  at  the  end  of  this  long  and  wearisome 
journey,  he  finds  the  object  of  his  search,  not  wearing  soft* 
clothing  and  dwelling  in  king’s  houses,  but  employed  in  arduous 
and  heavy  labour,  following  the  plough. 

How  little  do  those  men  know  of  religion  who  wonder  at 
such  an  incident.  Never  are  we  more  likely  to  hear  the  voice 
of  God’s  good  Spirit  speaking  effectually  to  the  heart,  than 
when  fulfilling  conscientiously  and  industriously  the  duties  of 
an  honourable  and  innocent  employ.^  Yet  is  it  astonishing  how 
much  ignorance  exists  upon  this  subject ; one  man  thinks  his 
worldly  duties  quite  incompatible  with  spiritual  ordinances ; 
another  imagines  that  if  he  were  freed  from  these  impediments, 
then  and  not  till  then,  he  should  be  enabled  to  run  the  way  of 
God’s  commandments ; how  few  practically  feel,  what  is  un- 
questionably the  truth,  that  a man  is  never  more  religiously 
employed — never,  perhaps,  more  acceptably  to  God — than 
when  he  is  “ not  slothful  in  business,  but  fervent  in  spirit, 
serving  tlie  Lord,”  and  carrying  out  the  dictates  of  inspiration, 
and  fulfilling  the  high  behests  of  eternity,  amidst  the  anxious 
cares  and  duties  of  time. 

^ It  is  recorded  in  the  life  of  the  excellent  Philip  Henry, 
father  of  the  commentator,  that  one  day  calling  upon  a tanner  in 
his  parish,  he  found  him  so  busily  employed  in  tanning  a hide, 
that  he  was  not  aware  of  his  approach  until  he  gave  him  a slight 
tap  on  the  back ; he  started,  and  looking  behind  him,  blushed. 

Sir,”  said  he,  “ I am  ashamed  you  should  find  me  thus.” 
Philip  Henry  replied,  “ Let  Christ  when  he  comes  find  me  so 
doing.”  “What,”  said  the  man,  “doing  thus?”  “Yes,” 
rejoined  his  minister,  “ faithful  in  the  duties  of  my  calling.” 

No  sooner  had  Elijah  cast  his  prophet’s  mantle  upon  the 
herdsman  of  Abel-meholah,  than  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the 
silent  but  all-prevailing  voice  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  “ made  wil- 
ling in  the  day  of  God’s  power,”  Elisha  understands  the  sig- 
nificant action,  receives  it  at  once  as  a call  to  the  prophetic 


♦Matt.  xi.  8. 


212 


ELISHA. 


office,  and  hesitates  not  a moment  at  the  sacrifices  it  requires, 
or  the  duties  it  enjoins. 

Instantly,  as  we  are  told,  “ he  left  the  oxen  and  ran  after  Eli- 
jah.” Twelve  yoke  of  oxen  were  ploughing  before  him, 
eleven  servjants  labouring  with  him  in  the  field,  which  was  in 
all  probability  his  property,  as  the  oxen  and  that  which  per- 
tained to  them  evidently  were,  yet  is  he  not  for  one  moment 
impeded  by  the  abundance  of  this  world’s  goods  ; he  remains 
not  even  to  conclude  the  work  upon  which  he  is  engaged,  but 
follows  at  once  his  master  and  his  guide. 

Such,  at  lea^t,  as  regarded  every  worldly  impediment,  was 
the  conduct  of  Elisha  ; but  there  were  ties  more  powerfully 
binding  upon  his  heart  than  the  possessions  of  earth ; ties 
which  Elijah  indeed  appears  never  to  have  known,  and  which 
perhaps  he  could  scarcely  estimate ; yet  were  they  neither  un- 
known nor  unfelt  by  Him  whose  earthly  parent  pondered  in  her 
heart  his  earliest  sayings,  and  divided  even  on  the  cross  his 
latest  thoughts.  “ Let  me,  I pray  thee,”  said  Elisha,  “ kiss  my 
father  and  my  mother,  and  then  I will  follow  thee.”  And  he 
said  unto  him,  “ Go  back  again  ; for  what  have  I done  to 
thee  ?”  I have  done  nothing  which  should  break  these  ties,  I 
have  done  nothing  to  fetter  thine  own  free-will,  or  to  force  a re- 
luctant compliance.  Follow  as  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  lead 
thee,  the  result  will  be  rightly  and  wisely  ordered. 

“ So  he  returned  back  from  him,”  and  having  paid  that  part- 
ing tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  his  parents,  so  justly  due 
to  them,  having  shown  that  the  strongest  aspirations  after 
heaven  are  perfectly  consistent  with  the  holy  affections  of 
earth,  and  having  feasted  the  people  with  the  oxen  which  he 
no  longer  needed,  to  mark,  perhaps,  the  cheerfulness  and  alac- 
rity with  which  he  was  thus  surrendering  all  for  God,  “ he 
arose,  and  went  after  Elijah,  and  ministered  unto  him.” 

The  earthly  course  of  this  remarkable  man,  however,  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  now  drawing  towards  its  close,  for  the  Lord 
had  determined  to  “ take  up  Elijah  into  heaven  by  a whirl- 


LECTURE  I. 


213 


wiml  in  vain  did  he,  when  he  felt  his  departure  was  at 
hand,  entreat  Elisha  to  leave  him ; in  vain  did  he  urge  him  to 
tarry  at  each  of  the  different  places  through  which  they  passed ; 
the  answer  of  his  devoted  follower  to  the  thrice-repeated  request 
was  still  the  same,  “ As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth, 
I will  not  leave  thee  V\ 

So  they  proceeded  together  from  Gilgal  to  Bethel,  and  from 
Bethel  to  Jericho,  and  from  Jericho  to  Jordan,  until  they  stood 
together  upon  the  banks  of  that  mysterious  river  whose  stream 
had  separated  when  touched  by  the  feet  of  those  who,  in  former 
days,  had  borne  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  and  whose  waters  were 
now  about  to  be  the  subject  of  a second  miracle,  as  wonderful, 
if  not  as  imposing,  as  the  first.  For,  no  sooner  did  Elijah 
take  his  mantle,  and  with  it  smite  the  waters,  than  they  were 
divided  hither  and  thither,  and  they  went  over  on  dry  ground. 

The  river  Jordan,  that  river  which  has  so  often  been  made 
a type  of  the  last  awful  passage  from  time  to  eternity,  now  was 
crossed,  and  as  the  prophet  stood  upon  the  opposite  shore, 
waiting  only  for  the  chariot  of  fire  which  was  to  conduct  him 
thence,  he  must  have  felt  almost  divested  of  humanity,  and  al- 
ready a member  of  that  heavenly  choir  which  surrounds  the 
throne.  Who  can  read,  and  who  can  hear  of  the  position  of 
the  prophet,  at  that  moment,  without  feeling  something  nearly 
allied  to  envy  of  the  fate  of  him  who,  of  all  mankind,  was  thus 
alone  so  highly  honoured  ? who  can  resist  the  natural  petition 
which  arises  in  his  heart.  Would  that  the  waters  of  Jordan 
might  be  divided  thus  for  me,  that  I also  might  escape  this  fear- 
ful passage ; that  I might  pass  over  dryshod,  where  so  many  are 
merged  in  the  deep  and  rapid  stream.  But,  brethren,  this  is 
the  language  of  faithlessness  and  distrust.  All,  and  more  than 
all,  that  was  vouchsafed  to  Elijah,  is,  if  you  are  the  children  of 
God,  promised  and  ensured  to  you. 

The  streams  of  Jordan  shall  not  indeed  become  dry  land  at 
your  approach,  but  there  is  One  who  has  declared,  “ When  thou 
passest  through  the  waters,  I will  be  with  thee  ; and  through 
2 Kings  ii.  1. 


214 


ELISHA. 


the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee.”*  There  is  One  who 
has  said,  “ I am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  ; whosoever  liveth 
and  believeth  in  me,  shall  never  die:  believest  thou  this?”  If 
so,  be  of  good  courage,  your  footsteps  shall  not  sink  in  those 
deep  waters ; though  they  dry  not  up  at  your  approach,  they 
shall  do  more,  they  shall  sustain  you,  they  shall  not  bend  be- 
neath your  weight  while  you  are  crossing  them  in  the  footsteps 
of  Him,  and  leaning  upon  His  arm,  whose  “rod  and  whose 
staff  shall  comfort  you.” 

Never,  we  may  confidently  assert,  never  was  any  child  of 
God  lost  in  that  dark  stream  ; many  have  sorely  struggled  there, 
many  have  been  called  to  cross  it,  in  much  tribulation ; bodily 
pain,  mental  anguish,  spiritual  darkness,  have  all  combined  to 
cloud  and  terrify  the  soul ; yet  is  the  language  of  one  and  all 
of  those  who  have  preceded  us,  as  they  stand  rejoicing  on  the 
opposite  bank,  the  voice  of  victory  and  triumph,  “ We  overcame 
by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.” 

Let  yours,  then,  be  the  humble  confidence  of  “ God’s  dear 
children  ;”  do  not  permit  a fear  or  a doubt  of  its  fulfilment  to 
intervene,  while  offering  this  most  touching  petition  of  our  Bu- 
rial Service,  which  finds  a responsive  chord  in  every  breast, 
“ Spare  us.  Lord,  most  holy,  O God  most  mighty,  O holy  and 
merciful  Saviour,  thou  most  worthy  Judge  eternal,  suffer  ns  not, 
at  our  last  hour,  for  any  pains  of  death,  to  fall  from  thee.” 

And  now  the  prophets,  having  crossed  the  river,  while  the 
few  and  precious  moments  remained,  before  the  fiery  chariot 
should  appear,  engaged  in  deeply  interesting  discourse,  of  which 
the  following  only  has  been  bequeathed  to  us : “ Elijah  said 
unto  Elisha,  Ask  what  I can  do  for  thee,  before  I be  taken 
away  from  thee.”  What  a test  of  all  that  was  in  the  new- 
born prophet’s  heart!  Was  worldly  ambition  lurking  there? 
was  his  desire  to  be  great,  or  rich,  or  noble,  or  powerful  ? what 
an  opportunity  was  now  before  him  ; there  was  no  limit,  no  ex- 
ception— “ Ask  what  I shall  do  for  thee.”  Imagine  for  a mo- 
ment, brethren,  the  question  addressed  in  equal  privacy,  and 


Isaiah  xliii.  2. 


LECTURE  I. 


215 


with  equal  unreserve  to  yourselves.  God  has  permitted  me 
to  fulfil  it,  what  shall  I do  for  you  ? If  all  hearts  here  present 
wer^  laid  open  at  this  moment,  and  their  innermost  desire,  their 
most  secret  aspiration  exposed  to  the  eye  of  man,  as  it  already 
is  to  the  eye  of  God,  how  many  would  be  ashamed  to  see,  what 
they  have  never  yet  been  ashamed  to  feel.  How  many  would 
at  once  demonstrate  that  this  world  in  some  shape  or  other,  its 
profits,  pleasures,  power,  rank,  grandeur,  nothingness,  are,  after 
all,  the  idols  that  fill  the  highest  throne,  and  sit  enshrined  in  the 
most  secret  hiding-place  of  their  heart.  How  many  would 
say.  Bestow  upon  me  such  a degree  of  wealth,  fulfil  to  me  that 
long-cherished  anticipation,  realize  this  dream  of  earthly  hap- 
piness ; how  few'  would  petition  simply  for  spiritual  blessings, 
how  very  few  would  be  content  to  say.  Give  me  but  a larger 
portion  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  of  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ 
Jesus,  of  the  image  of  my  God,  and  I am  satisfied. 

“ Elisha  answered  and  said,  I pray  thee,  let  a double  portion 
of  thy  spirit  be  upon  me.  And  he  said.  Thou  hast  asked  a 
hard  thing ; nevertheless,  if  thou  see  me  when  1 am  taken  from 
thee,  it  shall  be  so  unto  thee ; but  if  not,  it  shall  not  be  so.” 
“ Thou  hast  asked  a hard  thing “ Is  any  thing,  then,  too 
hard  for  the  Lord  ?”^  It  is  God’s  own  question  to  Abraham. 
Assuredly  not ; Elijah  might  feel  it  hard  for  him  to  ask,  but 
certainly  he  could  not  feel  it  hard  for  God  to  grant.  A hard 
thing  ?”  If  it  were  hard,  it  w^as  because,  as  St.  James  tells 
us,  “ Elias  was  a man  subject  to  like  passions,”  and  like  in- 
firmities, “ as  we  are,”  and  had  not  yet  learned  to  trust  God 
perfectly,  for  he  had  not  yet  shaken  off  this  body  of  sin,  and 
had  not  yet  got  rid  of  this  “evil  heart  of  unbelief.”  Although 
his  feet  were  almost  upon  the  threshold  of  heaven,  he  still  felt 
and  spake  but  as  a stranger  there.  How  widely  different  was 
the  language  of  Him,  who  spake  as  a Son,  “ All  things  what- 
soever ye  shall  ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive.”! 
Yes,  brethren,  there  are  no  “hard  things”  with  God  ; there  are 
no  exceptions  wdth  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  when  ye  are  strait- 


* Gen.  xviii.  14. 


t Matt.  xxi.  22. 


2iG 


ELISHA. 


ened  in  prayer,  ye  are  straitened  in  yourselves,  but  not  in  God. 
His  own  direction  is,  “Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,”  even 
the  best  which  God  has  to  bestow  ; you  cannot  go  beyond  this, 
and  yet  He  has  said,  that  He  will  “ do  abundantly  above  all 
that  ye  are  able  to  ask  or  think.” 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  relate,  that  Elisha’s  prayer  was 
heard.  “ It  came  to  pass,  as  they  still  went  on  and  talked,” 
not  losing  a moment  of  the  few  that  yet  remained  to  them, 
“ that,  behold,  a chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire,  and  parted 
them  both  asunder;  and  Elijah  went  up  by  a whirlwind  into 
heaven.”^  Such  was  the  closing  scene  of  that  remarkable 
man ; of  all  the  children  of  men,  with  one  exception,  the  only 
one  who  has  travelled  upwards  to  the  skies,  and  escaped  the 
degrading  lot  of  all  mortality.  In  the  peculiar  characteristics 
of  his  life,  he  seems  to  have  had  no  prototype,  as  he  had  but 
onet  follower ; mysterious  alike  in  his  entrance  upon  the  scene 
of  liis  labours,  and  in  his  departure  thence.  Not  a trace  of  his 
family  or  connexions,  is  handed  down  to  us  ; not  a vestige  by 
which  we  can  clearly  or  accurately  ascertain  even  how  long  he 
ministered  ; and  whence  he  came,  is  almost  as  little  known  to 
us  as  whither  he  was  carried. 

While,  however,  we  follow,  in  imagination,  his  fiery  chariot, 
and  gaze  at  the  bright  traces  of  its  ascending  wheels,  it  is 
impossible  to  dwell  upon  the  servant,  when  we  are  so  strongly 
reminded  of  the  Master,  and  of  that  solemn  declaration,  once 
delivered  by  angel  voices  upon  Mount  Olivet,  to  those  who 
mourned  the  loss  of  a far  greater  prophet,  and  were  the  wit- 
nesses of  a far  nobler  ascension,  “ Why  stand  ye  gazing  up 
into  heaven  ? This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go 
into  heaven. “ Blessed  is  that  servant  whom  his  Lord  when 
he  cometh  shall  find  w^atching.” 

The  astonishment  and  grief  so  vividly  displayed  in  the  excla- 
mation of  Elisha,  while  witnessing  the  wonderful  ascent  of  his 
friend,  must  not  be  overlooked.  “ And  Elisha  saw  it,  and  cried, 


♦ 2 Kings  ii.  11. 


t Acts  i.  1 1. 


t See  Mat.  xvii.  10-12. 


LECTURE  I. 


217 


My  father,  my  father ! the  chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen 
thereof.  And  he  saw  him  no  more  ; and  he  took  hold  of  his 
own  clothes,”  and,  in  the  extremity  of  his  sorrow,  “ rent  them 
in  two  pieces.”*  “ The  chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen 
thereof.”  Elisha,  therefore,  knew  what,  alas  ! few  Christians 
ever  dream  of  knowing,  that  the  devout  and  holy  followers  of 
God,  are  the  support  and  safeguard  of  their  country  ; the 
strongest  armaments  of  Israel  were  the  prevailing  prayers  of 
her  prophets ; and  while  Elisha  mourned,  as  a child,  that  his 
father  was  taken  from  him,  he  sorrowed  as  a patriot,  that  the 
chariot  and  horsemen  of  Israel  were  gone.  Here,  brethren,  is 
a truth,  pre-eminently  worth  your  learning,  that  the  real  strength 
of  our  beloved  country  exists  not  in  her  fleets,  her  armies,  her 
wealth,  or  even  in  her  free  and  invaluable  institutions,  and  the 
high  intellectual  endowments  of  her  senators,  but  simply  and 
entirely  in  the  blessing  of  her  God  ! and  this  will  rest  upon 
her  in  proportion  as  her  governors  are  holy  and  God-fearing 
men,  and  her  inhabitants  a religiously-instructed  and  a praying 
people.  These  are  the  “ chariots  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen 
thereof.” 

And  how  the  parting  scene  was  over ; Elisha’s  earthly 
guide,  and  spiritual  father,  was  taken  from  him  ; his  house  was 
left  unto  him  desolate ; the  last  worldly  tie  was  severed,  and  he 
was  called  to  go  forth  a houseless  and  a solitary  man,  through 
evil  report  and  good  report,  to  bear  the  message  of  the  Almighty 
to  the  thousands  of  Israel.  Still  might  he  truly  say,  as  his 
Divine  Master,  in  after  ages,  said,  “ Yet  I am  not  alone,  because 
the  Father  is  with  me.”t 

Then,  taking  up  the  mantle  which  had  fallen  from  the  ascend- 
ing prophet,  and  once  more  retracing  his  steps  to  the  banks  of 
Jordan,  he  smote  the  waters  with  the  mantle,  and  said,  Where 
is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah,  even  He  ? (for  so  it  is  in  the  original, 
but  the  two  last  words  are  not  translated,)  and  immediately  the 
waters  parted  hither  and  thither,  and  he  again  went  over  dry- 
shod,  and  returned  to  Jericho. 

♦ 2 Kings  ii.  12. 


19 


tJohn  xvi.  32. 


218 


ELISHA. 


Here  for  a time  we  must  leave  this  instructive  history, 
thankful  if,  by  God’s  grace,  we  carry  away  with  us  but  this 
single  lesson: — When  Elisha’s  only  earthly  friend  was  taken 
from  him,  and  he  had  poured  forth  the  first  strong  wailings  of 
his  natural  grief,  his  heart  fled  upward  from  the  broken  cistern 
to  the  Living  Spring;  his  earnest  inquiry  was,  “ Where  is  the 
Lord  God  of  Elijah,  even  He  ?”  His  friend  is  gone,  but  the 
God  in  whom  that  friend  trusted,  still  remains  ; he  asks  not  for 
Elijah,  but  for  Elijah’s  God.  It  was  much  that  he  possessed 
the  prophet’s  mantle,  a double  portion  of  his  spirit ; but  more, 
infinitely  more,  that  he  knew,  he  felt,  that  he  possessed  that 
prophet’s  God. 

Brethren,  in  the  darkest  hours  of  nature’s  trials,  when  those 
you  love  the  dearest  and  the  best  are  taken  from  you,  let  this 
be  your  consolation.  In  the  still  deeper  darkness  of  spiritual 
bereavements,  when  your  joy,  and  hope,  and  peace  are  all  for- 
saking you,  still  seek  your  surest  refuge  here  ; if  you  have  been 
enabled,  by  Divine  grace,  to  say,  “ This  God  is  our  God  for 
ever  and  ever  though  frames  and  feelings  change.  He  in 
whom  you  trust  shall  never  alter.  The  waters  of  your  sea  may 
ebb  and  flow,  and  as  long  as  you  carry  about  with  you  a body 
of  sin  and  death,  they  will  do  so,  but  your  Rock  cannot,  for  it  is 
“ the  Lord  God  of  Elijah,  even  He  !”  “ Jesus  Christ,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  eyer.” 

\ 

7 

LECTURE  II. 

2 Kings  ii.  21. 

And  he  went  forth  unto  the  spring  of  the  waters,  and  cast  in  the  salt 

there,  and  said.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I have  healed  these  waters.’^ 

At  the  close  of  the  last  lecture,  we  left  Elisha  at  Jericho, 
whither  he  had  gone  after  the  translation  of  Elijah,  and  where 
* Psalm  xlviii.  14. 


LECTURE  II. 


219 


there  was  a school  of  the  prophets.  While  he  tarried  there,  as 
the  inspired  historian  informs  us,  the  men  of  the  city  came  unto 
him,  and  said,  “ Behold,  I pray  thee,  the  situation  of  this  city 
is  pleasant,  as  my  lord  seeth;  but  the  water  is  naught,  and  the 
ground  barren.  And  he  said.  Bring  me  a new  cruse,  and 
put  salt  therein.  And  they  brought  it  to  him.  And  he  went 
forth  unto  the  spring  of  the  waters,  and  cast  in  the  salt  there, 
and  said.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I have  healed  these  waters  ; 
there  shall  not  be  from  thence  any  more  dearth  or  barren  land. 
So  the  waters  were  healed  unto  this  day,  according  to  the  say- 
ing of  Elisha  which  he  spake.”*  How  remarkable,  and  how 
contradictory,  yet,  how  prevailing  and  all-powerful,  are  the 
means  by  which  God  works,  whether  in  nature  or  in  grace. 
A little  salt,  a new  cruse,  and  the  bitter  waters  and  the  barren 
land  are  healed.  So  has  it  ever  been,  so  is  it  now  ; with  the 
Almighty  there  is  no  apparent  proportion  between  the  means 
and  the  end,  the  cause  and  the  effect.  It  pleased  Christ,  by 
putting  clay  into  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man,  to  restore  him  to 
sight  again.  “ It  pleased  God,”  says  the  Apostle,  “ by  the 
foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save  them  that  believe.”  Who  will 
venture  to  assert,  that  the  salt,  or  the  cruse,  or  the  clay,  or  the 
preaching,  bears  any  proportion  to  the  healed  water,  the  restored 
eyesight,  the  saved  soul  ? It  is  enough,  that  thus  saith  the  Lord, 
“ I have  healed  these  waters it  is  enough,  that  God  is  the 
doer  of  it.  He  who  alone  can  render  any  means  effectual,  is 
equally  able  to  bring  to  pass  his  wonderful  designs,  either  with 
means,  or  without  means,  or  by  the  most  contradictory  of 
means,  as  seemeth  him  best.  Remember  this,  brethren,  in  the 
most  trying  circumstances  of  your  lives  ; neglect  not  the  prayer- 
ful, and  persevering  use  of  every  mean  which  the  Almighty 
has  placed  within  your  power ; but  having  done  so,  esteem  it 
your  highest  privilege,  and  greatest  comfort,  to  trust  implicitly, 
and  to  rest  calmly  upon  a God  who  is  entirely  above  all  means, 
and  wliolly  independent  of  them,  and  who  not  only  can,  but 
* 2 Kings  ii.  19 


220 


ELISHA. 


constantly  does,  deliver  his  people,  when  all  created  means  of 
safety,  or  escape,  are  utterly  hopeless. 

But,  brethren,  we  have  said,  that  this  is  as  true  in  the  king- 
dom of  grace  as  of  nature  ; and  does  not  your  own  spiritual 
experience  corroborate  the  assertion  ? Have  you  never  lamented 
your  great  coldness  towards  God  in  prayer,  your  very  inade- 
qirate  feelings  of  love  and  gratitude  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners, 
for  all  the  unnumbered  mercies  of  which  he  has  made  you  the 
partakers,  the  general  obduracy  and  hardness  of  your  hearts  ? 
We  cannot  doubt  it;  for  what  child  of  God  was  ever  entirely 
free  from  these  roots  of  bitterness  ? And  you  have  pleaded 
these  deficiencies,  anxiously  and  perseveringly,  at  a throne  of 
grace,  and  you  have  faithfully  expected  that  God  would  hear, 
your  prayers,  and  send  you  the  promised  remedies.  He  has 
done  so,  or  is,  perhaps,  at  this  moment  doing  so  ; but  the  means 
he  is  using,  are  those  which  you  neither  anticipated,  nor  desired. 
You  have  asked  him  to  teach  you  to  love  him  more,  and, 
strange  reply ! he  has  taken  from  you  some  dear  relative  or 
friend.  You  have  pleaded  that  your  heart  is  hard,  and  he  has 
sent  you  some  great  worldly  disappointment.  You  have  earn- 
estly besought  him  to  make  you  feel  the  truths,  which  you 
already  know,  and  he  has  cast  you  upon  a bed  of  sickness,  or 
brought  upon  you  some  domestic,  or  mental,  or  bodily  trial ; 
and  you  look  at  these  things  with  wonder,  perhaps  almost  with 
discontent;  you  see  no  analogy  between  your  petition  and 
God’s  replies.  Take  the  incident  before  you  as  a key  to  this. 
God  reserves  to  himself,  the  right  of  conferring  his  own  unde- 
served blessings  by  his  own  means,  and  in  his  own  manner. 
You  do  not  now  understand  these  means,  but,  nevertheless, 
you  shall  one  day  learn  their  fitness  and  propriety,  by  their 
blessed  and  eternal  effects.  In  all  these  cases,  unassisted 
nature  feels  nothing  more  than  that  God  is  shaking  the  tree; 
but  grace  discovers  that  it  is  only  that  he  may  gather  in  “ the 
fruits  of  righteousness.” 

Although,  then,  we  cannot  imitate  God  in  the  means  he  uses, 


221 


LECTURE  II. 

we  may  learn  something  by  the  method  in  which  he  employs 
them.  He  sends  not  Elisha  to  the  brooks  and  streams,  but  to 
the  river  head ; “he  went  forth  unto  the  spring  of  the  waters,” 
and  there  cast  in  the  salt.  If  the  bitterness  and  barrenness  of 
our  perverse  and  fallen  nature  are  to  be  healed,  it  is  at  the 
Spring-head  alone,  that  the  remedy  can  be  introduced.  It  is 
in  vain  to  rest  content  with  saying,  I will  correct  this  temper ; 
I will  renounce  this  habit ; I will  forsake  this  sin ; even  if  suc- 
cessful, it  would  be  but  as  if  Elisha  had  healed  the  single  reach 
of  the  river  that  ran  through  Jericho,  and  had  left  all  the  waters 
that  had  followed,  to  retain  their  original  bitterness.  No,  it  is 
in  the  heart  that  all  our  bitterness,  and  all  our  barrenness 
originate;  there,  and  there  only,  can  they  be  cured.  “Either 
make  the  tree  good,  and  his  fruit  good ; or  else  make  the  tree 
corrupt,  and  his  fruit  corrupt:  for  the  tree  is  known  by  his 
fruit. 

Rest,  then,  brethren,  in  nothing  short  of  the  renewed  heart, 
the  changed  nature,  the  converted  soul ; seek  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  his  blessed  and  abiding  influences,  in  the  well-spring  of  all 
your  actions,  words,  and  thoughts,  and  you  will  no  longer  have 
to  complain  that  yours  is  a life  either  of  bitterness  to  yourselves, 
or  of  barrenness  before  God. 

Elisha,  having  paid  his  visit  to  the  school  of  the  prophets  at 
Jericho,  went  up  thence  unto  Bethel,  where  was  established 
another  of  these  valuable  seminaries  ; his  object,  in  all  proba- 
bility, to  communicate  the  translation  of  Elijah,  and  his  own 
appointment  as  his  successor.  Having  fulfilled  his  intention, 
the  prophet  withdrew  to  Carmel,  a mountain  in  the  tribe  of 
Issachar,  about  fifty-six  miles  distant,  situated  close  to  the  sea- 
shore, abounding,  as  travellers  tell,  with  vines  and  olives,  and 
covered  with  shady  groves,  and  sweet-scented  shrubs.  This 
was  once  the  favourite  resort  of  Elijah.  Here  he  had  miracu- 
lously consumed  the  burnt-offering,  and  destroyed  the  prophets 
of  Baal.  Here,  also,  he  had  withdrawn,  to  pray  for  that  rain, 
which,  after  three  years’  drought,  in  answer  to  his  petitions, 
* Matt.  xii.  33. 


222 


ELISHA. 


again  refreshed  the  face  of  the  earth.*  Thither  now  did  Elisha 
retire,  that,  amidst  its  solitudes,  he  might  recruit  his  wearied 
spirit,  and  fit  himself  for  the  trying  and  difficult  intercourse 
with  kings  and  princes,  in  which  he  was  so  shortly  to  engage. 
Like  our  divine  Saviour,  Elisha  prepared  himself  for  the  more 
public  and  ostensible  portions  of  his  ministry,  by  absolute 
solitude,  and  the  most  secret  intercourse  with  God.  Had 
Elisha  never  retired  to  Mount  Carmel,  he  would,  in  all  pro- 
bability, have  been  utterly  useless  in  Samaria. 

“ A ministry  of  power,”  it  has  been  well  said,  “ must  be 
a ministry  of  prayer.”  While  the  Providence  of  God  directs 
the  words  spoken,  it  is  the  breath  of  prayer  which  fills  its 
wings,  and  carries  it  to  the  heart  of  the  hearer,  “quick  and 
powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword.^t 

If  I may  be  allowed  to  speak  practically  upon  this  point,  as 
one  who  for  a series  of  years  occupied  a post — God  only  knows, 
how  unworthily  and  imperfectly — of  most  incessant  employ- 
ment, I would  humbly  and  affectionately  assure  my  younger 
brethren  in  the  ministry,  that  unless  there  be  a resolute  appor- 
tionment of  a certain  time  every  day  for  entire  seclusion  and 
secret  communing  with  God,  and  private  devotional  dwelling 
upon  his  Holy  Word,  not  with  a view  to  others,  but  for  the 
improvement  of  ourselves,  there  never  can  be  much  of  real  and 
spiritual  nourishment  in  our  ministry,  or  much  of  unction  in  our 
ministrations,  or  much  of  Christ  in  our  own  souls. 

And,  brethren,  is  not  this  great  duty  of  temporary  abstraction 
equally  necessary  to  yourselves  ? The  fault  of  many  profess- 
ing Christians  in  our  day  is,  that  they  live  too  much  in  public. 
We  do  not  mean  that  they  are  dissipated,  or  particularly  worldly 
in  their  habits  and  associations,  although  this  is  true,  alas  ! of 
some,  but  that  the  work  of  the  heart  is  postponed  to  the  work 
of  the  head  and  the  hands  ; committees,  schools,  charitable 
meetings,  occupy  the  time,  and  fill  the  thoughts,  while  solitude, 
and  especially  a devotional  solitude,  is  a thing  almost  unknown. 
Half  the  errors  of  the  present  day  may  probably  be  traced  to 
* See  James  v.  17,  18.  t Heb.  iv.  12. 


LECTURE  ir. 


223 


this  source  ; the  facility  with  which  Christians  are  carried  away 
by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  the  low  standard  of  personal  holiness, 
the  small  amount  of  self-denying  charity ; for  these,  and  such 
as  these,  brethren,  there  is  no  remedy  but  walking,  like  Enoch, 
very  closely  with  God. 

Elisha  having  descended  from  Mount  Carmel,  returned  to 
Samaria,  the  capital  of  Israel,  about  thirty  miles  distant. 
Jehoram,  the  son  of  Ahab,  was  at  this  time  ruler  over  Israel, 
and  the  King  of  Moab  having  refused  his  usual  tribute,  Jehoram 
invited  Jehoshaphat,  the  King  of  Judah,  to  unite  with  him 
“against  Moab  in  battle.” 

To  this  Jehoshaphat,  a good  man,  but  apparently  not  a very 
wise  one,  consented,  and  taking  with  him  his  deputy,*  the 
King  of  Edom,  the  three  princes  proceeded  through  the  wilder- 
ness of  Edom,  towards  Moab.  Seven  days  had  they  continued 
to  advance  upon  their  expedition,  amidst  the  drought  and  heat 
of  the  desert,  when,  as  we  are  told,  “ There  was  no  water  for 
the  host,  and  for  the  cattle  that  followed  them.”  “Alas!” 
said  the  King  of  Israel,  “ that  the  Lord  hath  called  these  three 
kings  together  to  deliver  them  into  the  hand  of  Moab  !”t  Now, 
for  the  first  time,  they  appear  to  have  bethought  themselves  of 
God,  but,  as  is  too  often  the  case  with  sinners,  only  to  lay  upon 
God  himself  the  blame  of  their  own  misconduct.  “ The  woman 
whom  THOU  gavest,”J  said  Adam ; “ the  Lord  hath  called 
these  three  kings  together  to  deliver  them  into  the  hands  of 
Moab,”  said  Jehoram.  “But  Jehoshaphat  said.  Is  there  not 
here  a prophet  of  the  Lord,  that  we  may  inquire  of  the  Lord 
by  him  ?”  Seven  days  had  Elisha  been  travelling  with  the 
host,  doubtless  at  God’s  command,  and  seven  days  had  the 
three  kings  been  entirely  ignorant  of  his  presence,  and  perfectly 
indifferent  whether  he  were  among  their  followers,  or  whether  ^ 
he  still  tarried  in  Samaria.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  they  in- 
quired, if  there  were  not  a prophet  of  the  Lord  among  them. 

How  seldom  is  either  God,  or  his  prophet  thought  of,  until 
* 1 Kings  xxii.  47.  t 2 Kings  iii.  9.  X Genesis  iii.  12, 


224 


ELISHA. 


the  day  of  adversity  drives  us  to  Him.  Well  is  it  for  us,  that 
the  day  which  made  this  world  a world  of  sin,  made  it  also  a 
world  of  suffering  and  sorrow ; for  these  are  the  things  which 
instru mentally,  in  some  shape  or  other,  are  continually  beating 
off  the  soul  from  branch  to  branch,  and  from  spray  to  spray, 
wherever  it  attempts  to  settle,  until  they  compel  it  to  take 
wing,  and  to  mount  upward,  and  to  find  its  only  refuge  in  the 
bosom  of  its  God. 

And  one  of  the  King  of  Israel’s  servants  answered  and  said, 
“ Here  is  Elisha,  the  son  of  Shaphat,  which  poured  water  on 
the  hands  of  Elijah.  And  Jehoshaphat  said,  The  word  of  the 
Ijord  is  with  him.  So  the  King  of  Israel,  and  Jehoshaphat, 
and  the  King  of  Edom,  went  down  to  him.”*  The  three  kings 
condescend  to  wait  at  the  door  of  the  tent  of  the  prophet; 
even  Jehoram,  who  departed  not  from  the  sins  of  Jereboam, 
but  worshipped  the  golden  calves  which  he  had  set  up,  ventures 
into  the  prophet’s  presence,  when  led  thither  by  adversity  and 
distress.  But  Elisha,  who  was  doubtless  instructed  by  God, 
that  there  was  no  real  change  in  the  heart  or  conduct  of  the 
King  of  Israel,  and  that  such  an  act  of  voluntary  humiliation 
was  merely  to  subserve  some  temporary  exigency,  immediately 
addressed  to  him  this  indignant  remonstrance,  “ What  have  I 
to  do  with  thee  ? get  thee  to  the  prophets  of  thy  father,  and  to 
the  prophets  of  thy  mother.”!  What  a reply  was  this  for  the 
hour  of  anxiety  and  distress  ! Well-deserved,  indeed,  but  still 
most  cutting  and  most  appalling. 

And  think  you,  brethren,  that  there  are  none  who  may  one 
day  receive  as  cold  and  forbidding  an  answer  from  the  lips  of 
that  prophet’s  Master  ? Think  you  there  are  none  who  shall 
say,  upon  the  great  and  solemn  hour  which  awaits  us  all, 
“ Lord,  Lord,  open  unto  us,”  and  to  whom  that  Lord  shall 
reply,  “ I never  knew  ye,”  “ get  thee  to  the  prophets  of  thy 
father,  and  the  prophets  of  thy  mother,”  and  the  prophets  of 
thine  own  choosing ; betake  thee  to  the  deities  whom  ye  have 
* 2 Kings  iii.  1112.  t 2 Kings  iii.  13. 


LECTURE  II. 


225 


served,  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil ; but  come  not  to  me 
whom  ye  have  never  sought,  or  desired  to  seek,  until  the  bride- 
groom has  entered  in,  and  the  door  has  been  shut. 

If  God’s  word  be  true,  there  will  come  such  a time,  and  such 
an  answer,  to  many  who  now  anticipate  it  not.  “ Because  I 
have  called,  and  ye  refused  ; I have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and 
no  man  regarded ; but  ye  have  set  at  naught  all  my  counsel, 
and  would  none  of  my  reproof ; I also  will  laugh  at  your 
calamity  ; I will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh.”^  These  are 
God’s  own  words,  “They  would  none  of  my  counsel;  they 
despised  all  my  reproof ; therefore  shall  they  eat  of.  the  fruit  of 
their  own  ways,  and  be  filled  with  their  own  devices.”t  And 
what  is  this,  brethren,  but,  I will  send  them,  in  the  day  of 
adversity,  to  the  gods  they  worshipped  in  the  day  of  pros- 
perity. 

Ask  yourselves,  then,  who  are  the  gods,  to  whom  you  are 
paying  your  adoration  now,  and  tendering  your  willing  service  ? 
Self-interest,  pleasure,  public  opinion  ! These  are  the  popular 
deities  of  to-day.  How  much  of  time,  property,  conscience, 
are  you  sacrificing  to  them  ? How  many  of  your  thoughts, 
words,  actions,  are  regulated  by  them  ? They  are  all-powerful 
with  you  now,  but  what  will  they  profit  you,  when  your  soul 
stands  naked  and  alone,  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Lord  Almighty  ? 

“And  the  King  of  Israel,”  continues  the  history,  “ said  unto 
Elisha,  Nay  : for  the  Lord  hath  called  these  three  kings  together, 
to  deliver  them  into  the  hand  of  Moab.”  But  Elisha,  perfectly 
unmoved  by  what  he  no  doubt  knew  to  be  the  just  sentence  of 
God,  replied,  “ As  the  Lord  of  Hosts  liveth,  before  whom  I 
stand,  surely,  were  it  not  that  I regard  the  presence  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  the  King  of  Judah,  I would  not  look  toward  thee,  nor 
see  thee.”f  Such  is  the  power  of  one  devoted  servant  of  the 
Almighty  ! ten  such  men  as  “just  Lot,”  would  have  saved  the 
cities  of  the  plain  ; one  holy  Jehoshaphat  rescued  from  destruc- 
tion the  hosts  of  Israel  and  Judah.  Who  among  ourselves 
shall  say,  that  we  or  our  families  may  not  have  been  spared  to 
* Proverbs  i.  24-26.  t Proverbs  i.  30,  31.  t 2 Kings  iii.  14. 


226 


ELISHA. 


be  here  before  God  to-day,  by  the  residence  among  ns  of  one 
true  and  sincere  worshipper,  one  converted  and  holy  heart  ? 

It  was  the  presence  of  the  wheat  alone  which  preserved  the 
tares  that  grew  in  the  same  field  with  it,  and  occasioned  the 
merciful  sentence,  “ Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest.” 

“ Were  it  not  for  the  presence  of  Jehoshaphat,  I would  not 
look  toward  thee  nor  see  thee.”  Happy  for  us  sinners,  when 
endeavouring  to  approach  a throne  of  grace,  that  we  are  per- 
mitted, nay  enjoined,  to  venture  thither  only  with  the  presence 
of  the  Beloved,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Take  him  with  you  in  every  petition  there,  and  you  may  find 
“ access  with  boldness”  to  our  heavenly  Father.  He  who  could 
not  “ look  toward  thee,  nor  see  thee,”  while  drawing  near  to 
Him  in  your  own  righteousness,  will  see  you  and  delight  to  see 
you  in  Christ  Jesus,  His  merits  for  your  deficiencies,  Hjs 
worthiness  for  your  guilt.  His  perfect  obedience  unto  death, 
for  all  the  unnumbered  transgressions  and  short-comings  of  your 
lives. 

Thus  the  presence  of  Jehoshaphat  insured  the  services  of  the 
prophet;  by  the  command  of  God,  water  was  miraculously 
supplied,  and  the  hosts  of  Israel  and  Judah  were  preserved. 

Elisha  departed  with  the  armies  of  Israel  into  his  own  land. 
No  sooner  had  he  returned  thither,  than  we  find  him  engaged 
in  a work  of  mercy,  probably  much  more  in  accordance  with 
his  own  feelings,  than  the  scenes  in  which  he  had  lately  been 
employed. 

“ Now  there  cried,”  says  the  inspired  historian,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fourth  chapter,  “ a certain  woman  of  the  wives 
of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  unto  Elisha,  saying.  Thy  servant 
my  husband  is  dead ; and  thou  knowest  that  thy  servant  did  fear 
the  Lord : and  the  creditor  is  come  to  take  unto  him  my  two 
sons  to  be  bondmen.”*  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  a case  of 
greater  affliction  ; a poor  woman,  just  deprived  of  him  who  had 
been  the  guide  and  the  joy  of  her  life,  and  owing  to  inevitable 
misfortune,  left  in  a state  of  absolute  insolvency  and  destitution ; 

♦ 2 Kings  iv.  1. 


LECTURE  II. 


227 


widowhood  and  poverty,  coming,  as  alas  ! they  too  often  do, 
even  to  a child  of  God,  hand  in  hand.  In  the  first  agonizing 
hours  of  her  bereavement,  her  hopes  are  naturally  fixed  upon 
her  two  sons,  as  the  stay  and  solace  of  her  declining  years  ; but 
the  relentless  creditor  seizes  even  these,  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  law  of  the  land ; “ He  is  come,”  she  says,  “ to  take 
unto  him  my  two  sons  to  be  bondmen.”*  Her  last  earthly 
hope,  therefore,  is  gone,  her  last  earthly  prop  has  given  way, 
and  in  this  hour  of  nature’s  extremity,  she  betakes  herself  to  the 
Lord,  and  falls  at  the  feet  of  his  servant,  and  without  presuming 
to  prescribe,  or  even  to  ask  a remedy,  simply  states  her  case  of 
litter  desolation,  and  leaves  a blank  in  the  hands  of  her  God,  to 
be  filled  up  as  His  mercy  and  love  shall  dictate.  “ And 
Elisha,”  apparently  for  a moment  almost  perplexed  by  such 
an  accumulation  of  aggravated  woes,  “ said  unto  her.  What 
shall  I do  for  thee  ?”  how  can  I help  thee?  “ tell  me.”  The 
sufferer  is  silent;  she  knows  the  extent  of  her  calamity,  but 
she  does  not  know  the  extent  of  God’s  love  ; and  she  is  wisely 
silent,  for  in  suggesting  a remedy,  she  would  probably  only 
have  abridged  her  mercies.  The  child  of  God  can  never  be  so 
safe  as  in  his  Father’s  hands.  “ Exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think,”t  is  the  only  measure  by  which  even 
an  apostle  could  describe  the  bounties  of  our  God.  The  prophet, 
not  noticing  her  silence,  thus  continues,  “ What  hast  thou  in 
the  house  ? And  she  said,  Thine  handmaid  hath  not  any  thing 
in  the  house,”  so  entirely  had  her  creditors  stripped  her  of  the 
little  which  her  husband  had  left  behind  him,  “ save  a pot  of 
oil.”  “ Then  he  said.  Go,  borrow  the  vessels  abroad  of  all 
thy  neighbours,  even  empty  vessels  ; borrow  not  a few.  And 
when  thou  art  come  in,  thou  shalt  shut  the  door  upon  thee  and 
upon  thy  sons,  and  shalt  pour  out  into  all  those  vessels,  and 
thou  shalt  set  aside  that  which  is  full.  So  she  went  from  him, 
and  shut  the  door  upon  her  and  upon  her  sons,  who  brought 
the  vessels  to  her,  and  she  poured  out.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
when  the  vessels  were  full,  that  she  said  unto  her  son.  Bring 
* 2 Kings  iv.  1.  t Ephesians  iii.  20. 


228 


ELISHA. 


me  yet  a vessel.  And  he  said  unto  her,  There  is  not  a vessel 
more.  And  the  oil  stayed.  Then  she  came  and  told  the  man 
of  God  : and  he  said,  Go,  sell  the  oil,  and  pay  thy  debt,  and 
live  thou  and  thy  children  of  the  rest.”^  First,  pay  thy  debts ; 
though  the  creditor  be  heartless,  be  not  thou  unjust ; the  con- 
duct of  others  to  us,  makes  no  alteration  in  the  nature  of  our 
duties  to  them.  Enough  would  still  remain  to  preserve  her- 
self and  her  children  from  perishing  with  want. 

Most  strikingly  illustrative  is  this  affecting  little  incident  of 
that  consolatory  declaration  of  the  Psalmist,  “I  have  been 
young,  and  now  am  old,  yet  saw  I never  the  righteous  forsaken, 
nor  his  seed  begging  their  bread.”  Rather  would  God  main- 
tain them  by  a miracle,  than  that  the  widow  and  children  of 
his  servant,  should  perish  with  hufiger.  True,  vital  godliness 
hath,  as  the  apostle  declares,  “ the  promise  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come,”t  and  He  who  hath  not 
withheld  from  us  His  Son,  His  only  Son,  how  shall  he  not 
also  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things  ? daily  bread  with  daily 
grace,  and  at  least  a sufficiency  in  time,  as  well  as  an  infinite 
inheritance  when  time  shall  be  no  longer.  Let,  then,  those 
among  you  who  are  not  blessed  with  a large  portion  of  worldly 
goods,  learn  to  trust  more  simply  and  entirely  to  our  heavenly 
Father,  even  for  the  supply  of  this  world’s  necessities.  He, 
without  whom  not  a sparrow  falleth,  never  will,  and  never  can 
desert  the  work  of  his  own  hands,  and  if  you  go  to  Him  in  a 
manner  of  childlke  dependence  and  confidence,  asking  bread, 
most  assuredly  He  will  neither  “give  you  a stone,”  nor  send 
you  empty  away. 

If  we  may  legitimately  gather  thus  much  for  our  support  and 
consolation  as  regards  the  things  of  time,  from  the  narrative 
before  us,  surely  it  ought  not  to  be  without  its  encouragement 
in  reference  to  the  abiding  possessions  of  eternity.  How  beau- 
tiful a picture  does  it  present  to  us  of  God’s  dealings  with  the 
poverty-striken  soul ! How  plainly  can  we  see  in  it,  the 
humble  approach  of  such  a soul  in  the  depths  of  its  destitution, 
2 Kings  iv.  3-7.  t 1 Tim.  iv.  8. 


LECTURE  II. 


229 


and  in  the  consciousness  of  its  own  emptiness,  to  our  great  and 
blessed  Intercessor.  The  same  confidence  in  his  tender  com- 
passion and  loving-kindness,  which  marked  the  approach  of  the 
widow  to  the  prophet ; the  same  humble  determination  to  leave 
all  to  Christ,  to  plead  nothing  before  him  but  poverty  and 
emptiness,  trusting  for  the  remedy,  entirely  to  His  mercy  and 
love,  who  alone  can  know  the  extent  of  the  disorder,  and  alone 
can  minister  the  cure.  While  to  the  question,  “ What  hast 
thou  ?”  every  faculty  of  the  truly  convinced  and  converted  soul, 
also  must  acknowledge  in  reply,  “ I have  not  any  thing”  that 
I can  call  my  own,  but  my  numlerless  transgressions,  my 
countless  sins,  which  have  degraded  myself,  and  have  dis- 
honoured thee.  Again,  as  we  follow  this  poor  and  helpless 
widow,  and  behold  cask  after  cask,  and  vessel  after  vessel  filled 
from  the  never-failing  cruse,  the  oil  never  ceasing,  never  even 
diminishing,  so  long  as  one  vessel  more  remained  to  be  sup- 
plied, how  powerfully  we  are  reminded  of  Him  “ out  of  whose 
fulness  have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace.”  What 
encouragement  for  yourselves,  brethren  ; not  one  member  of 
the  spiritual  Church  of  Christ,  and  not  one  grace,  one  virtue  in 
that  member  which  shall  not  be  filled  up,  by  that  adorable 
Saviour,  who  “ filleth  all  in  all.”  Betake  yourselves,  then*  to 
Him  this  day,  with  a deep  feeling  of  your  own  utter  emptiness 
and  insufficiency,  drawing  largely  upon  Him,  for  all  your  need  ; 
carry  to  Him  your  imperfect  prayers,  your  miserable  duties, 
your  defective  services,  all  utterly  empty  of  themselves,  all 
valuable  only  as  we  are  “ fulfilled  with  His  grace  and  heavenly 
benediction.”*  Recollect  for  your  comfort,  that  so  long  as  one 
vessel  remained  empty,  the  oil  never  ceased  to  flow,  and  the 
vessels  were  exhausted,  before  that  cruse  had  failed.  So  shall 
it  be  with  you  ; again  and  again  may  you  find  all  that  you  need, 
and  more  than  all  that  you  can  ever  need,  in  the  infinite  suffi- 
ciency of  a Saviour’s  power,  the  incalculable  merits  of  a 
Saviour’s  blood  and  righteousness,  and  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  a Saviour’s  love. 


Sacramental  Service  of  the  Church  of  England. 
20 


230 


ELISHA. 


Time  has  not  seen,  and  time  shall  never  see  the  hour  when 
that  well  shall  fail  you,  w'hen  that  fountain  shall  run  dry,  so 
long  as  there  is  one  thirsting  heart  to  be  satisfied,  one  empty 
soul  to  be  filled,  one  penitent  and  believing  sinner  to  be  saved 


LECTURE  III. 

2 Kings  iv.  26. 

Run  now,  I pray  thee,  to  meet  her  ; and  say  unto  her,  Is  it  well  with 
thee  ? Is  it  well  with  thy  husband  ? Is  it  well  with  the  child  ? And  she 
answered.  It  is  well.” 

In  the  last  discourse,  we  took  occasion  to  remark  upon  the 
advantages  of  religious  seclusion,  to  qualify  us  for  the  more 
ostensible  duties  of  public  usefulness  ; of  the  truth  of  this,  the 
life  of  our  blessed  Lord,  of  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  and  of  the 
prophet,  whose  history  we  are  now  considering,  afford  us  many 
and  striking  examples.  Elisha’s  time,  indeed,  appears  to  have 
been  chiefly  divided  between  the  solitudes  of  Mount  Carmel, 
and  the  thickly-thronged  capital  of  Israel.  Upon  his  road 
between  the  two,  and  about  five  miles  from  Mount  Tabor,  stood 
the  city  of  Shunem,  in  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  through  which, 
therefore,  he  was  obliged  continually  to  pass,  as  he  journeyed 
from  his  scene  of  public  occupation,  to  his  refuge  of  retirement 
and  repose. 

“ And  it  fell  on  a day,”  says  the  inspired  historian,  “ that 
Elisha  passed  to  Shunem,  where  was  a great”  or  wealthy 
“ woman  ; and  she  constrained  him  to  eat  bread.  And  so  it 
was,  that,  as  oft  as  he  passed  by,  he  turned  in  thither  to  eat 
bread.  And  she  said  unto  her  husband.  Behold  now,  I perceive 
that  this- is  an  holy  man  of  God  which  passeth  by  us  continu- 
ally. . liCt  us  make  a little  chamber,  I pray  thee,  on  the  wall ; 
and  let  us  set  for  him  there  a bed,  and  a table,  and  a stool,  and 


LECTURE  III. 


231 


a candlestick  : and  it  shall  be,  when  he  cometh  to  us,  that  he 
shall  turn  in  thither.”^ 

How  simple  and  beautiful  a picture  of  ancient  manners ! 
Often,  as  it  appears,  had  the  prophet  in  his  toilsome  journey, 
partaken  of  the  Shunammite’s  hospitality,  although  known 
only  to  them  as  a traveller  and  a pilgrim ; and  as  often,  had 
here  paid  their  kindness  by  his  devout  and  holy  conversation, 
cheering  and  refreshing  their  souls,  perhaps  as  palpably  by  all 
that  he  could  tell  of  Israel’s  God,  as  they  were  enabled  to 
recruit  his  wayworn  frame,  by  the  provision  they  so  liberally 
tendered.  Anxious,  therefore,  to  secure  the  longer  tarrying  of 
so  holy  a guest,  the  woman  proposed  to  build  him  a private 
chamber,  that  when  he  pleased  to  retire  from  the  noise  and 
bustle  of  so  large  an  establishment,  he  might  still  remaimbeneath 
their  roof. 

“ And  it  fell  on  a day,”  continues  the  history,  “ that  Elisha 
came  thither,  and  he  turned  into  the  chamber,”  probably  after 
partaking  of  the  hospitality  of  the  house,  “ and  lay  there.” 
Pleased  with  so  kind  and  unexpected  an  attention,  “ He  said 
to  Gehazi  his  servant,  call  this  Shunammite.  And  when  he 
had  called  her,  she  stood  before  him.  And  he  said  unto  him, 
Say  unto  her.  Behold,  thou  hast  been  careful  for  us  with  all 
this  care;  what  is  to  be  done  for  thee?  Wouldest  thou  be 
spoken  for  to  the  king,  or  to  the  captain  of  the  host  ?”  After 
the  miracle,  of  which  Elisha  had  been  the  instrument,  and  by 
which  the  lives  of  the  three  kings  and  their  armies  were  pre- 
served, as  we  saw  in  the  last  lecture,  it  is  probable  that,  for  a 
time  at  least,  the  prophet’s  interest  was  great  at  court,  and  that 
any  request  of  his,  might  meet  with  unusual  respect  and  atten- 
tion, even  from  Jehoram.  It  was  therefore  no  slight  favour 
which  he  proffered  to  this  wealthy  matron,  for  there  are  few, 
whatever  be  their  possessions,  who  have  not  some  desire,  even 
as  regards  this  world  and  its  advantages,  very  near  their  hearts. 
Not  so,  however,  the  Shunammite  ; she  replies  with  much 
dignity,  though  possibly  not  without  some  little  feeling  of  self- 
* 2 Kings  iv.  8. 


232 


ELISHA. 


complacency,  “ I dwell  among  mine  own  people.”  Intimating 
that  although  she  did  not  despise  the  prophet’s  offer,  happily 
she  felt  no  need  of  it.  God  had  blessed  her  with  abundance, 
and  he  had  accompanied  it  with  that  far  rarer  gift,  a contented 
heart.  As  for  this  world’s  advantages,  to  which  it  is  evident, 
Elisha’s  offer  was  limited,  she  has  no  request  to  make,  no 
increase  to  desire ; she  dwells  among  her  own  people  and  is 
satisfied. 

Still  the  grateful  prophet  cannot  depart  in  comfort,  until  he 
has  shown  that  the  cup  of  cold  water  only,  given  to  a prophet, 
in  the  name  of  a prophet,  shall  in  nowise  lose  its  reward. 
“ x\nd  he  said  to  his  servant,  What  then  is  to  be  done  for  her  ? 
Gehazi  answered,  Verily  she  hath  no  child,  and  her  husband 
is  old.  -And  he  said.  Call  her.  And  when  he  had  called  her, 
she  stood  in  the  door.  And  he  said.  About  this  season,  accord- 
ing to  the  time  of  life,  thou  shalt  embrace  a son.  And  she 
said,  Nay,  my  lord,  thou  man  of  God,  do  not  lie  unto  thine 
handmaid.  And  the  woman  conceived,  and  bare  a son,  at  that 
season,  that  Elisha  had  said  unto  her  according  to  the  time  of 
life.” 

How  immeasurably  do  the  gifts  of  God  exceed  the  anticipa- 
tions of  His  people  ! The  holy  Shunammite  could  not  believe 
that  so  great  a blessing  was  in  store  for  her.  “ Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him.”^ 
Equally  true  as  regards  the  revelations  of  His  grace  here,  and 
of  His  glory  hereafter.  The  natural  man,  in  all  the  darkness 
and  blindness  of  a fallen  and  corrupt  heart,  cannot  conceive  of 
those  good  and  perfect  gifts  of  which  the  spiritual  man  lives, 
even  here,  in  the  daily  and  hourly  enjoyment ; the  sense  of 
God’s  pardoning  love,  of  His  sanctifying  Spirit,  of  his  own 
abiding  and  comforting  grace ; and  the  wisest  spiritual  man 
who  ever  lived,  he  who  has  for  years  dwelt  almost  within  the 
threshold  of  heaven,  even  he  who  leaned  his  head  upon  his 
Saviour’s  breast,  and  lived  so  near  His  heart,  was.  probably  as 


* 1 Oor.  ii.  9. 


LECTURE  III. 


233 


much  astonished  at  the  unspeakable  gifts  of  which  the  first  hour 
in  heaven  made  him  the  possessor,  as  the  most  unconscious 
infant  that  ever  dropt  from  its  mother’s  bosom  into  an  eternity 
of  peace  and  joy. 

Sweet  must  have  been  the  reflections  of  the  prophet,  as  he 
journeyed  onward  upon  his  solitary  w’ay,  that  he  was  thus 
permitted  to  add  all  that  was  wanting  to  that  wealthy  establish- 
ment, to  complete  the  happiness  of  its  owners.  He  knew 
something  experimentally,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  comfort 'of 
family  affection,  and  of  the  ties  of  filial  love.  And  separated 
as  he  now  was,  by  the  peculiar  obligations  of  the  life  to  which 
he  had  been  so  remarkably  called,  from  the  endearments  of 
domestic  enjoyment,  he  was  not  ignorant,  that  if  there  be  one 
temporal  gift  more  blessed  than  another,  affectionate  and  holy 
children  constitute  that  boon.  For  surely  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say,  that  while  they  enable  us  to  live  over  again  our  own  lives 
by  witnessing  the  happiness  of  theirs,  they  bring  before  our  eyes, 
even  amidst  all  the  sins  and  infirmities  of  their  fallen  nature, 
much  of  the  innocence  and  joy,  the  unhesitating  trust  and  un- 
suspecting love,  which  will  constitute  the  happiness  of  heaven. 

Brethren,  while  such  precious  gifts  are  granted  you,  remember 
that  they  are  yours,  for  higher  and  for  holier  purposes  than  to 
delight  your  eyes,  and  gladden  and  rejoice  your  hearts;  that 
they  are  yours,  to  educate  for  the  presence  and  society  of  your 
God.  Sad  indeed  will  be  that  parent’s'heart,  at  the  great  day 
of  account,  who  shall  stand  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Lord, 
bereft  of  some  once  tenderly  dear  to  him,  and  shall  feel,  1 never 
laboured,  I never  prayed,  I never  strove  earnestly  and  perse- 
veringly  to  bring  my  children  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
Almighty.  The  world  was  once  the  model  for  my  own  con- 
duct, and  for  my  children’s  imitation,  I knew  no  higher,  and 
sought  no  wiser  guide  for  them ; and  although  God  in  his 
mercy  taught  me  better  things,  and  snatched  me  as  a brand 
from  the  burning,  it  was  all  too  late  for  those  who  had  lived  a 
life  of  utter  worldliness  beneath  my  roof,  and  died  in  unrepented 
sin  before  my  eyes. 


20^ 


234 


ELISHA. 


Often,  doubtless,  as  Elisha  from  time  to  time,  partook  of  the 
hospitality  of  these  Shunammites,  did  he,  from  his  prophet’s 
chamber  on  the  wall,  look  down  with  satisfaction  upon  that 
growing  child,  and  thank  God,  that  he  had  been  permitted  to 
make  the  happy  parents  the  possessors  of  so  dear  a gift ; and 
probably,  not  seldom  did  he  call  him  aside  from  the  incum- 
brances of  wealth,  by  which  he  was  so  early  and  so  thickly 
surrounded,  and  impart  to  his  young  mind  the  first  germs  of 
that  immorlal  knowledge  of  Israel’s  ever-present  God,  and  of 
its  coming  Saviour,  and  of  the  more  enduring  riches  treasu.red 
up  for  those  who  love  Him,  in  a far  fairer  land  than  even  the 
happy  Canaan  in  which  they  dwelt. 

But,  alas ! the  best  of  God’s  earthly  gifts,  are  ours  only  for 
the  shortest  periods.  The  dearest  and  the  sweetest  children, 
are  but  as  flowers  from  our  heavenly  Father’s  garden,  which 
often  come  but  as  a summer’s  loan,  and  then  away  again. 
Happy  they,  who  can  hold  them  with  so  loose  a hand,  and 
with  so  wise  a heart,  as  to  restore  them  thankfully  and  cheer- 
fully, when  called  for,  by  Him  from  whom  they  came. 

“ And  when  the  child  was  grown,”  continues  the  narrative, 
it  fell  on  a day  that  he  went  out  to  his  father  to  the  reapers. 
And  he  said  unto  his  father,  My  head,  my  hoad.” 

Observe  the  instinct  of  this  helpless  little  one  ; the  first  feel- 
ing of  pain  sends  him  to  his  father.  Brethren,  we  would 
inquire,  whither  does  the  first  trace  of  anxiety,  or  sorrow,  or 
disappointment,  send  yourselves  ? To  the  world,  to  society, 
to  pleasure,  or  to  God  ? Observe  carefully  your  spiritual  in- 
stinct, and  learn  from  it  your  spiritual  relationship.  If  God 
be  indeed  your  Father,  you  will  as  naturally  run  to  him  in  the 
first  hours  of  nature’s  suffering,  as  he,  of  whom  we  are  speak- 
ing, to  his  earthly  parent.  Not  a pain,  not  a sorrow,  not  an 
anxiety,  which  can  befall  you,  but  will  be  poured  forth,  in  all 
the  confidence,  and  all  the  humility,  and  all  the  love  of  helpless 
infancy,  into  the  ears  of  him,  whom  the  Spirit  hath  taught  you 
to  call  “ Abba,  Father,”  and  from  whom,  as  reconciled  to  you 
in  Christ  Jesus,  you  will  expect  to  find,  and  assuredly  will 


LECTURE  III. 


235 


find,  all,  and  more  than  all  a parent’s  sympathy,  and  a parent’s 
love. 

And  the  father  “ said  to  a lad,  Carry  him  to  his  mother. 
And  when  he  had  taken  him  and  brought  him  to  his  mother, 
he  sat  on  her  knees,  till  noon,  and  then  died.”^^ 

Great,  and  unexpected,  had  been  that  mother’s  joy,  and 
fearfully  sudden  and  unlooked  for,  was  her  present  visitation. 
An  hour  before,  she  had  parted  from  her  treasured  boy  in  all 
the  fulness  of  health  and  vigour,  had  delighted  to  see  his  little 
footsteps  following  her  husband  to  the  field,  to  gain  the  useful 
lessons  of  practical  knowledge  from  the  father,  in  addition  to 
the  still  higher  instructions,  which  are  imparted  best  upon  a 
mother’s  knee.  And  now  he  is  brought  back  to  her,  a droop- 
ing and  a dying  child,  he  has  been  struck  by  the  rays  of  the 
too  fervid  sun,  and  lingers  an  hour  or  two  in  helpless  and 
hopeless  agony  upon  her  lap,  and  his  freed  spirit  returns  to 
God  who  gave  it. 

This  is  the  moment,  brethren,  to  learn  rightly  to  estimate 
her  of  whom  we  are  speaking ; great  successes  and  great  re- 
verses bring  with  them  powerful  developments  of  human 
character.  We  had  no  doubt  from  the  first  that  the  Shunam- 
mite  was  a holy  woman,  or  she  would  scarcely  have  coveted 
so  earnestly  the  society*  of  the  man  of  God.  We  had  no  reason 
to  question  that  she  was  a sensible  and  reflecting  woman,  or 
she  never  would  have  discovered  so  clearly  the  perils  of  court 
favour  and  worldly  aggrandizement.  But  she  must  be  placed 
in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  before  the  most  striking  features  of 
her  faith  can  be  brought  out,  or  the  highest  and  most  beautiful 
points  in  her  unusually  lofty  character,  can  be  revealed  to  us. 

“ And  she  went  up,”  to  adopt  the  simple  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, “ and  laid  her  child  on  the  bed  of  the  man  of  God,  and 
shut  the  door  upon  him,  and  went  out.”t  But  why  so  caie- 
fully  close  that  door,  or  why  is  so  minute  a circumstance 
recorded  ? Doubtless  to  mark  the  strength  of  her  faith,  and 
* 2 Kings  iv.  19,  20.  t 2 Kings  iv.  21. 


236 


ELISHA. 


the  reality  of  her  uependence  upon  God.  She  fastens  the 
door,  lest  during  her  projected  absence  of  some  hours,  in  a 
climate  where  the  bodies  are  usually  interred  before  sunset,  her 
husband  should  commit  the  child  to  the  silent  grave,  while  she 
was  preparing  only  for  his  resurrection.  “ And  she  called  her 
husband,  and  said.  Send  me,  I pray  thee,  one  of  the  young 
men,  and  one  of  the  asses,  that  I may  run  to  the  man  of  God, 
and  come  again.”  “ And  he  said,”  probably  having  yet  no 
idea  of  the  fatal  termination  of  his  child’s  illness,  “ Wherefore 
wilt  thou  go  to  him  to-day?  It  is  neither  new  moon  nor 
Sabbath.”  She  dares  not  disclose  her  intention,  fearful,  lest 
her  husband’s  faith  should  not  be  sufficiently  strong  to  aid  her, 
in  what  might  appear  to  him,  so  wild  and  profitless  an  enter- 
prise. She  simply  replies  “ It  shall  be  well.”  “ Then  she 
saddled  an  ass,  and  said  to  her  servant,  Drive  and  go  forward  ; 
slack  not  thy  riding  for  me,  except  I bid  thee.  So  she  went, 
and  came  unto  the  man  of  God  to  Mount  Carmel.” 

And  now  the  scene  changes,  and  we  behold  the  prophet  on 
his  watch-tower,  where,  in  close  communion  with  his  God,  his 
happiest  hours  held  on  the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  not  glad- 
dened indeed  by  the  cheering  rays  of  social  intercourse,  but 
then  not  embittered  by  the  thousand  crosses  of  domestic  life ; 
gathering  strength  for  days  of  greater  usefulness,  and  enjoying 
such  near  and  friendly  access  to  the  Most  High,  that  he  seems 
almost  surprised,  that  any  thing  should  be  concealed  from  him, 
in  which  his  heavenly  Father’s  hand  is  traceable. 

An  unusual  sight  breaks  in  upon  these  spiritual  communings  ; 
he  beholds  “ afar  off”  the  afflicted  Shunammite,  driving  in  haste 
through  the  unfrequented  forest,  and  evidently  making  for  his 
solitary  abode. 

With  that  quick  feeling,  which  marks  the  man  who  is  touched 
the  most  readily,  and  most  deeply,  with  another’s  wo,  he  waits 
not  until  she  arrives ; he  is  anxious  to  anticipate  her  wishes, 
and  remembering  at  once  those  objects  that  must  be  nearest 
and  dearest  to  her  heart,  calls  his  servant,  and  exclaims,  “ Be- 


LECTURE  III. 


237 


hold,  yonder  is  that  Shunammite  : run  now,  I pray  thee,  to 
meet  her,  and  say  unto  her.  Is  it  well  with  thee  ? Is  it  well 
with  thy  husband  ? Is  it  well  with  the  child  ?” 

How  closely  does  the  conduct  of  the  prophet  resemble,  in 
its  anxious  solicitude,  that  of  his  Divine  Master,  and  yet,  like 
every  other  human  imitation,  how  infinitely  does  it  fall  below 
it.  “ When  he  was  yet  a great  way  off,”  says  our  Lord, 
describing,  in  his  well-known  parable,  the  Almighty’s  anxiety 
for  the  salvation  of  the  returning  sinner,  “ his  father  saw  him, 
and  had  compassion,"  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed 
him.”  We  love  the  prophet,  for  not  coldly  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  the  sotrowing  Shunammite  ; we  think  much  of  his  con- 
descension and  kindness,  in  sending  thus  quickly  to  anticipate 
her  coming,  and  yet  how  little,  comparatively,  do  we  think  of 
the  infinitely  greater  love  of  Him,  who  goes  in  person  to  meet 
every  returning  prodigal,  and  to  seek  as  well  as  to  save  every 
repentant  soul ! Cold  indeed  must  be  that  human  heart,  un- 
questionably perverted  those  feelings,  which  can  hear  of  all  our 
heavenly  Father’s  daily,  hourly  displays  of  preventing  grace, 
as  manifested  towards  each  of  us  individually,  and  not  to  be 
filled  to  overflowing  with  gratitude  and  love.  “ A great  way 
off,”  aye,  who  shall  say  how  far,  were  the  happiest  of  the 
glorified  spirits  who  now  surround  the  throne,  wdien  first  their 
Father  saw,  and  loved,  and  pitied  them,  and  with  the  outgoings 
of  His  grace,  met,  and  led,  and  brought  them  to  himself. 

In  the  instructions  that  the  prophet  gave  his  servant,  not  one 
object  is  omitted  which  he  thinks  the  thoughts,  or  hopes  of  his 
coming  visiter,  are  fixed  upon,  or  from  which,  he  imagines  it 
possible  that  her  present  sorrow  emanates.  But  the  afflicted 
mother  came  not  thus  fast,  and  far,  to  speak  with  the  servant. 
She  answers  Gehazi  at  once,  w'hen  he  repeats  the  inquiry,'  “ Is 
it  well  ? It  is  well.” 

It  has  generally  been  thought  that  this  reply  was  intended  to 
express  a high  degree  of  resignation  and  holy  calmness  ; and 
excellent  use,  for  the  consolation  of  the  mourner,’'^  has  been 
* Hill’s  useful  little  work,  It  is  Well.” 


238 


ELISHA. 


made  of  this  interpretation  ; but  the  impression  which  it  is 
rather  calculated  to  leave,  after  a careful  perusal  of  the  whole 
history,  is,  that  it  was  the  passing  answer  of  a subdued,  and 
yet  dignified  spirit,  not  choosing  to  open  up  the  springs  of  its 
grief  to  any,  save  the  prophet  himself.  Very  characteristic  of 
one  who  could  reply  to  that  prophet,  “ I dwell  among  mine 
own  people and  who  could  lay  her  dead  child  upon  the  bed, 
and  lock  the  door  upon  him,  and  go  at  once,  without  receiving 
advice,  and  without  seeking  it,  to  God’s  own  minister,  in  the 
fulness  of  Abraham’s  faith,  believing  that  God  would  certainly 
restore,  what  he  had  so  mercifully  and  unsought-for  given. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  Shunammite 
communicated  nothing  to  Gehazi,  and  slacked  not  her  driving 
until  she  reached  the  hill  were  Elisha,  having  descended  from 
his  tower,  was  anxiously  waiting  her  arrival.  Her  first  action 
was,  to  throw  herself  at  his  feet,  in  all  the  eloquence  of  silent 
woe.  “ But  Gehazi  came  near  to  thrust  her  away.”  His 
feelings  alive,  perhaps,  to  the  little  slight  just  cast  upon  him- 
self, by  her  brief  and  hurried  answer,  but  partaking  not  of  his 
master’s  sympathy  and  love.  “ And  the  man  of  God  said. 
Let  her  alone,  for  her  soul  is  vexed  within  her ; and  the  Lord 
hath  hid  it  from  me,  and  hath  not  told  me.”  How  kind  and 
merciful  is  the  treatment  of  the  prophet.  How  beautiful  a 
model  for  us,  the  ministers  of  Christ,  when  dealing  with  the 
afflicted,  the  desolate,  the  convicted,  the  inquiring  spirit.  “ Her 
soul  is  vexed  within  her,”  is  fully  sufficient  to  apologize  for  all 
that  might  be  unusual  or  indecorous,  in  the  manner  of  her 
address.  If  we  would  bind  up  the  broken  heart,  or  heal  the 
trembling  and  sin-repentant  soul,  let  us  never  forget  that  it  is  to 
be  done  with  the  gentle  hand  of  Him,  who  could  touch  the 
bruised  reed  without  breaking  it,  and  who,  with  the  same  look 
which  sent  the  penitent  Peter  to  tears  of  bitterness,  assured  him 
of  his  pardoning  and  abiding  love.  Then  the  Shunammite  for 
the  first  time  gave  utterance  to  her  grief.  “ Did  1 desire  a son 
of  my  Lord  ! Did  I not  say,  do  not  deceive  me  ?”  How  singu- 
lar, yet  how  touching  an  address ! Here  is  nothing  of  the 


LECTURE  III. 


239 


wailing  and  lamentation  of  the  childless  mother.  She  simply 
reminds  the  prophet,  that  the  loss  for  which  she  mourns  was  his 
own  gift,  unsolicited,  unexpected  ; but  surely,  not  intended  to 
be  vouchsafed,  merely  until  she  had  learned  to  love  and  value 
it,  and  then  to  be  as  suddenly  withdrawn.  Still,  if  it  were  so, 
“ It  is  well but  he  who  was  the  bearer  of  the  Almighty’s 
gift,  shall  not  remain  in  ignorance  that  it  has  been  resumed. 
Elisha  replies  not  a word  to  this  remarkable  appeal,  but  turning 
to  Gehazi,  said,  “ Gird  up  thy  loins,  and  take  my  staff  in  thine 
hand,  and  go  thy  way ; if  thou  meet  any  man,  salute  him  not ; 
and  if  any  salute  thee,  answer  him  not  again  : and  lay  my  staff 
upon  the  face  of  the  child.” 

It  was  mercifully  and  promptly  done,  and,  doubtless,  had  the 
Shunammite  sent  to  the  prophet,  no  human  messenger  whom 
she  could  have  selected  would  have  expected  more ; none  who 
would  not  have  returned  with  that  commissioned  servant,  satis- 
fied and  rejoicing.  But  when  God  made  the  Shunammite  a 
mother,  he  gave  her,  as  he  usually  does,  a mother’s  heart ; and 
the  inspired  historian,  in  recording  her  behaviour,  perhaps 
intentionally,  reminds  us  of  this  important  clue  to  her  otherwise 
too  pertinacious  conduct.  He  continues,  “ The  mother  of  the 
child  said,  as  she  saw  Gehazi  hastening  away  with  the  pro- 
phet’s staff,  to  perform  the  miracle.  As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as 
thy  soul  liveth,  I will  not  leave  thee.”  Elisha,  no  doubt,  duly 
appreciating  a character  so  like  his  own — for  you  will  remem- 
ber that  these  were  the  identical  words  which  he  himself  had 
made  use  of,  when  urged  by  Elijah  to  remain  behind — imme- 
diately followed  his  servant,  and  accompanied  the  mother. 
Perhaps,  also,  he  had  some  slight  misgivings,  whether  this  were 
a commission  which  ought  to  have  been  entrusted  to  another, 
and  whether  it  would  not  require  more  than  a prophet’s  staff, 
or  even  a double  portion  of  a prophet’s  spirit,  to  perform  a 
miracle,  by  the  mere  presence  of  his  servant,  which,  in  Elijah’s 
case,  had  required  the  earnest  prayers  and  entreaties,  and  the 
personal  exertions  of  the  prophet.  “ And  Gehazi  passed  on 
before  them,  and  laid  the  staff  on  the  face  of  the  child ; but 


210 


ELISHA. 


there  was  neither  voice  nor  hearing : wherefore  he  went  again 
to  meet  him,  and  told  him,  saying,  The  child  is  not  awakened.” 
Still  the  watchful  mother  is  silent.  She  may  have  had  doubts 
of  the  servant’s  power,  but  she  has  none  of  the  master’s,  or  of 
that  master’s  God.  “ So  they  passed  on  to  Shunem  together.’^ 
“ And  when  Elisha  was  come  into  the  house,  behold  the  child 
was  dead,  and  laid  upon  his  bed.  He  went  in  therefore,  and 
shut  the  door  upon  them  twain,  and  prayed  unto  the  Lord.” 

And  now  the  mother’s  faith  obtains  a rich  reward ; “ the 
effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a righteous  man  availeth  much,” 
even  to  the  recalling  of  the  departed  spirit,  and  the  restoring 
the  dead  child  to  life  again. 

“ And  Elisha  called  Gehazi  and  said.  Call  this  Shunamraite. 
So  he  called  her.  And  when  she  was  come  in  unto  him,  he 
said,  Take  up  thy  son.  Then  she  went  in,  and  fell  at  his  feet, 
and  bowed  herself  to  the  ground,  and  took  up  her  son,  and 
went  out.” 

Such  is  the  conclusion  of  this  miracle  of  mercy ; the  happy 
mother  receives  again  to  her  bosom  her  living  child  ; her  heart 
is  too  full  for  utterance  to  man  ; she  testifies,  in  silence,  her 
gratitude  to  the  prophet,  and  then  retires  to  pour  forth  her 
praises  and  thanksgivings  to  God,  that  this  her  son,  “ was  dead, 
and  is  alive  again ; was  lost,  and  is  found.” 

And  here,  brethren,  we  might  conclude  our  observations,  but 
there  was  an  inquiry,  which  we  would  not  interrupt  the  course 
of  the  narrative  to  dwell  upon,  though  we  cannot  silently  pass 
it  by. 

I would  repeat  it,  then,  addressing  it  to  every  individual 
among  you,  not  in  the  spirit  of  impertinent  intrusion  or  curiosity, 
but  of  deep,  and  earnest,  and  affectionate  solicitude  for  the  best 
interests  of  your  immortal  souls.  “ Is  it  well  with  thee  ?” 

How  much  is  involved  in  that  little  question ; how  much 
hangs  upon  the  answer.  Would  that  we  might  say  to  each  of 
you,  as  St.  John  says  to  “the  well-beloved  Gains,”  “ Beloved, 
I wish  above  all  things  that  thou  mayesl  prosper,  and  be  in 
health,  even  as  thy  soul  prospereth.”  But  alas!  we  should  be 


LECTURE  III. 


241 


afraid,  in  the  smallest  congregation,  to  make  such  an  assump- 
tion, to  take  so  vital  a truth  for  granted.  We,  therefore,  urge 
you  to  ask  yourselves,  “ Is  it  well  with  me  ?” 

To  assist  you  in  the  inquiry,  consider  that  you  are  all  of  you 
the  baptized  and  avowed  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
pledged  by  your  own  voluntary  declaration,  to  renounce  the 
devil  and  all  his  works,  the  world,  and  all  its  lying  vanities,  the 
flesh,  and  all  its  polluting  lusts.  Now,  are  you  fulfilling,  or 
endeavouring,  by  God’s  help,  to  fulfil  these  baptismal  obliga- 
tions ? Are  you  living  to  the  world,  or  to  God  ? Are  you 
indulging,  it  matters  not  how  secretly,  in  any  known  and 
habitual  sin  ? Be  that  sin  concealed  in  the  deepest  recesses  of 
your  heart,  from  the  most  searching  eye  of  your  fellow-men,  it 
is  perfectly  known  to  God ; and  if  you  are,  at  this  moment, 
conscious  of  any  one  such  cherished  and  forbidden  feeling,  so 
long  as  it  remains  unforsaken,  and  unrepented  of,  be  assured 
that  “ it  is  not  well  with  thee.”  The  world  may  smile  upon 
you,  friends  may  flatter  you,  your  own  heart  may  deceive  you, 
but  the  living  God  has  said,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet  Isaiah, 
“ Woe  unto  the  wicked ; it  shall  be  ill  with  him,”^  and  what 
God  has  said,  God  will  one  day  verify  before  assembled  worlds. 

But  once  more,  we  would  repeat  the  question,  addressing 
ourselves  to  you  who  have  reason  to  believe  that  you  have  been 
so  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind,  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  you  are  enabled  to  say,  with  an  Apostle, 
“ The  life  which  I now  live  in  the  flesh,  I live  by  the  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me.”  Do 
you  feel  an  increasing  love  for  God,  as  revealed  to  you  in  the 
person  and  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  an  increasing 
hatred  of  all  sin,  and  desire  to  avoid  even  the  least  deviation 
from  the  will  of  God,  as  far  as  you  are  enabled  to  understand 
and  receive  it  ? Do  you  endeavour  to  cultivate  an  unworldly, 
self-denying,  devotional  spirit,  fulfilling  all  your  duties,  what- 
ever be  your  rank  and  station  in  society,  as  unto  God,  and  not 
merely  unto  man,  seeking  daily  more  and  more  of  that  close 

* Isaiah  iii.  11. 

21 


242 


ELISHA. 


union  with  the  Saviour,  as  living  branches  in  the  true  vine, 
without  whom  you  can  do  nothing  ? 

Then  have  we  the  authority  of  the  living  God,  in  answering 
also  for  you  the  inquiry  of  the  text,  for  has  He  not  said,  by  the 
mouth  of  the  same  prophet,*  “ Say  ye  to  the  righteous,  that  it 
shall  be  well  with  him.” 

Yes,  t)eloved  brethren,  it  is  well  with  you.  Though  at  this 
moment  you  feel  and  acknowledge  that  you  are  but  unprofit- 
able servants,  though  you  dare  hardly  take  the  consolation  to 
yourselves,  though  your  own  infirmities  and  transgressions  are 
much  more  present  to  your  thoughts  than  any  symptoms  of 
spiritual  life  and  holiness,  it  is  well  with  you  now,  and  your 
God  has  said,  “ It  shall  be  well  with  you  a promise  from 
which  no  time  of  future  trial,  no  moment  of  distant  anxiety,  is 
meant  to  be  excluded.  It  shall  be  well  with  you  in  every 
season  of  approaching  sorrow,  or  adversity  or  distress  ; it  shall 
be  well  with  you  at  the  hour  of  death  ; it  shall  be  well  with  you 
in  the  day  of  judgment,  and  in  the  eternity  that  shall  follow. 
“ Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  word  shall  not 
pass  away  and  that  eternal  Word  has  said,  “ Say  ye  to  the 
righteous.  It  shall  be  well  with  him,”  even  for  ever  and  ever. 


I.ECTURE  IV. 

2 Kings  v.  10. 

“ And  Elisha  sent  a messenger  unto  him,  saying,  Go  and  wash  in  Jordan 
seven  times,  and  thy  flesh  shall  come  again  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be 
clean.” 

After  the  deeply-interesting  narrative  which  engaged  our 
attention  upon  the  last  occasion  of  my  addressing  you,  we  find 
Elisha  passing  on  from  Shunem  to  Gilgal,  paying  another  visit 
to  the  school  of  the  prophets  there,  and  again  performing  a 
miracle  of  kindness  and  mercy. 


♦ Isaiah  iii.  10. 


LECTURE  IV. 


243 


He  then  retired  to  his  watch-tower  upon  Mount  Carmel, 
returning,  necessarily  through  Shunem,  and  no  doubt  occupying 
once  more  his  prophet’s  chamber  on  the  wall,  and  gladdening 
his  heart  yet  again  with  the  sight  of  the.  happy  mother,  and  her 
restored  and  healthful  child.  While  immersed  in  his  beloved 
solitude,  the  providence  of  God  was  preparing  for  him  a second 
visitor,  differing,  indeed,  most  widely  from  her  of  whom  we 
have  lately  spoken,  but  about  to  become  equally  a monument 
of  the  effect  of  the  prayers  of  the  prophet,  and  of  the  power  of 
God. 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  the  important  in- 
terview to  which  we  refer,  we  must  take  a brief  survey  of  the 
circumstances  that  led  to  the  arrival  of  this  new  visitor,  a native 
of  a foreign  country,  a man  of  warlike  pursuits,  and  of  idolatrous 
practices ; high  in  ranlt,  haughty  in  demeanour,  and  altogether, 
perhaps,  one  of  the  last  whom  we  should  have  expected  to  find 
an  humble  suppliant  at  the  prophet’s  gate. 

“ Naaman,”  for  it  is  he  of  whom  we  speak,  “ was,”  we  are 
told,  “ captain  of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Syria,  a great  man  with 
his  master,  and  honourable,  because  by  him  the  Lord  had  given 
deliverance  (or  victory)  unto  Syria.”  It  was  he,  so  the 
Targum  informs  us,  who  is  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  “ a cer- 
tain man  who  drew  a bow  at  a venture,”  which  killed  Ahab, 
and  this,  no  doubt,  had  added  greatly  to  his  renown : he  was 
“ also  a mighty  man  in  valour — but  he  was  a leper.”  What  a 
close  is  this  to  the  catalogue  of  his  endowments.  He  possessed 
every  thing  that  could  make  this  world  enjoyable,  “ but”  he 
possessed  one  thing  which  marred  the  happiness  of  them  all. 
Probably  the  whole  of  Syria  envied  the  greatness,  and  the 
prosperity,  and  the  exploits  of  Naaman,  and  yet,  in  that  vast 
empire,  not  the  lowest  slave  would  have  been  found  willing  to 
have  inherited  his  honours,  if  his  leprosy  had  been  a part  of 
the  entail.  So  remarkably  equal,  in  every  age,  have  been  the 
dispensations  of  Providence.  If  we  knew  the  whole  of  each 
man’s  lot,  perhaps  of  all  those  whom  we  are  now  most  inclined 
to  envy,  there  is  not  one  human  being  in  the  universe  wiih 


244 


ELISHA. 


whom  we  should  be  willing  to  exchange  conditions.  How 
powerful  an  incilemeiit  to  follow  the  apostolical  example,/*  I 
have  learned  in  whatsoever  state  I am,  therewith  to  be  content.” 
You  will  observe,  that  even  St.  Paul  had  learned  this  lesson  ; 
he  knew  it  not  by  nature,  and  most  assuredly  it  was  never 
taught  him  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  It  is  only  at  the  feet  of 
Christ  that  true  contentment  is  ever  learnt.  The  man  of  the 
world  may  be  taught,  by  long  experience,  theoretically  to  con- 
fess its  excellence  ; but  the  man  of  God  alone  is  enabled  practi- 
cally to  realize  its  truth.  He  feels  that,  although  in  his  lot, 
as  in  Naaman’s,  there  must  ever  in  this  world  be  some  excep- 
tion, some  “ but still  that  he  has  every  thing  who  possesses 
Christ,  for  the  Word  of  God  has  said,  “ All  things  are  yours, 
whether  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come ; all  are  yours,  and  ye  are  Christ’s,  and  Christ  is 
God’s.”  He  no  longer,  therefore,  views  his  worldly  disap- 
pointments, or  his  mental  trials,  or  his  bodily  ailments,  as  un- 
mixed calamities  ; so  far  from  it,  that,  tracing  a Father’s  hand, 
and  a Father’s  love,  in  every  visitation,  every  exception  to  his 
lot,  he  is  enabled  to  feel  gratitude  even  for  those  very  chasten- 
ings  in  which  the  world  can  see  nothing  but  unmitigated 
misery.  In  advancing  years,  and  in  declining  health,  the  most 
trying  of  all  visitations  to  the  mere  man  of  the  world,  the  Chris- 
tian is  able  to  look  contentedly,  and  even  cheerfully,  at  the 
shaking  of  the  walls  of  that  cottage  of  clay  in  which  his  better 
part  is  sojourning ; and  to  smile  at  the  thought,  that  yet  a few 
more  years,  or  months,  and  they  shall  mingle  with  their  kin- 
dred dust,  and  their  freed  inhabitant  shall  wing  its  way  to 
brighter  regions,  and  a more  enduring  home.  While  he  can 
say  with  one  of  the  holiest  men  of  our  own  Church,  of  tlie 
last  generation,  “ Thank  God  for  decay,  pain,  and  suffering ; 
thank  God  that  I was  born  to  die ; thank  God  that  I can  die  ; 
thank  God  that  the  time  is  near ; thank  God  for  the  prospect 
and  hope  of  a better  world ; and  thank  God  for  strong  consola- 
tion through  Christ.”* 


Adam  of  Wintringliam. 


LECTURE  IV. 


246 


“ And  the  Syrians,”  continues  the  narrative,  “ had  gone  out 
by  companies,  and  had  brought  away  captive,  out  of  the  land 
of  Israel,  a little  maid,  and  she  waited  on  Naaman’s  wife. 
And  she  said  unto  her  mistress.  Would  God  my  lord  were 
with  the  prophet  that  is  in  Samaria  ! for  he  would  recover  him 
of  his  leprosy.  And  one  went  in  and  told  his  lord,  saying, 
Thus  and  thus  said  the  maid  that  is  of  the  land  of  Israel.  And 
the  king  of  Syria  said.  Go  to,  go,  and  I will  send  a letter  to  the 
king  of  Israel.  And  he  departed,  and  took  with  him  ten  talents 
of  silver,  and  six  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  and  ten  changes  of 
raiment.”  How  admirably  prompt  is  Naaman  in  availing 
himself  of  the  intelligence.  Not  a moment  appears  to  be  lost 
in  fruitless  procrastinations ; he  no  sooner  hears  that  there  is  a 
prophet  in  Israel  who  can  heal  him,  than  he  enters  at  once 
upon  the  journey,  to  go  in  person  and  seek  him.  And  this 
excites  no  surprise  in  the  mind  of  any  individual  who  reads  it ; 
that  a man  suffering  under  an  incurable  and  painful  disorder, 
should  fly  to  the  remedy,  the  moment  one  is  proposed,  is  too 
natural  even  to  call  for  an  observation. 

Alas  ! how  different  is  it  in  spiritual  things ! Every  day, 
every  hour,  every  moment,  souls  are  passing  into  eternity 
and  of  these,  who  shall  calculate  the  number  that  have  never 
intended  to  reject  the  offers  of  salvation,  and  yet  have  died  un- 
pardoned and  unsaved,  simply  because  they  have  postponed 
repentance  until  too  late  to  practise  it,  or  delayed  to  listen  to 
the  things  belonging  to  their  peace,  until  they  were  hid  from 
their  eyes. 

“ And  Naaman  brought  the  letter  to  the  king  of  Israel,  say- 
ing, Now,  when  this  letter  is  come  unto  thee,  behold,  I have 
therewith  sent  Naaman  my  servant  to  thee,  that  thou  mayest 
recover  him  of  his  leprosy.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the 
king  of  Israel  had  read  the  letter,  that  he  rent  his  clothes,  and 
said,  Ami  God,  to  kill  and  to  make  alive,  that  this  man  doth 
send  unto  me  to  recover  a man  of  his  leprosy  ? Wherefore 
consider,  I pray  you,  and  see  how  be  seeketh  a quarrel 
against  me.” 


21^ 


ELISHA. 


U6 

•‘And  it  was  so,”  continues  the  historian,  “ when  Elisha, 
the  man  of  God,  had  heard  that  the  king  of  Israel  had  rent  his 
clothes,  that  he  sent  to  the  king,  saying.  Wherefore  hast  thou 
rent  thy  clothes  ? let  him  now  come  to  me,  and  he  shall  know 
that  there  is  a prophet  in  Israel.  So  Naaman  came  with  his 
horses  and  with  his  chariot,  and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  house 
of  Elisha.” 

Very  interesting  is  it  to  remark  the  difference  of  the  prophet’s 
conduct,  under  almost  precisely  similar  circumstances,  in  the 
last  and  present  incident.  On  the  last  occasion,  as  you  will 
doubtless  recollect,  no  sooner  did  Elisha  from  his  tower  behold 
through  the  long  vistas  ofMhe  forest  the  Shunammite  with  her 
single  attendant,  hastening  onward  to  his  solitary  abode,  than 
he  quickly  despatched  his  servant  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  her 
visit,  and  as  speedily  descended  himself  ♦o  greet  her,  in  person, 
upon  her  arrival.  In  the  present  instance,  he  beheld,  perfectly 
unmoved,  the  long  and  splendid  retinue  of  the  leader  of  the 
armies  of  Syria  as  they  wound  up  the  hill  on  which  his  watch- 
tower  stood,  and  patiently  waited  until  they  had  reached  his 
gate,  and  were  looking  anxiously  for  admittance. 

Even  then  his  conduct  is  not  altered  ; he  neither  invites  the 
great  man  into  his  house,  nor  descends  in  person  to  welcome 
him.  Whence  is  it  that  the  prophet,  kind,  and  affable,  and 
humble  to  all  the  world,  appears  harsh  and  reserved  to  Naaman  ? 
Elisha’s  object  evidently  was  this  ; he  was  about  to  instruct  the 
haughty  Syrian  in  the  school  of  Christ,  and  the  first  lesson  in 
that  school,  is  humility.  “ Except  ye  be  converted,  and  be- 
come as  little  children,”  as  teachable,  as  confiding,  as  humble, 
said  our  blessed  Lord,  “ ye  shall  in  nowise  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.” 

“ And  Elisha  sent  a messenger  unto  him,  saying.  Go  and 
wash  in  Jordan  seven  times,  and  thy  flesh  shall  come  again  to 
thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  clean.  But  Naaman  was  wroth,  and 
went  away,  and  said.  Behold,  I thought,  he  will  surely  come 
out  to  me,  and  stand,  and  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  his 
God,  and  strike  his  hand  over  the  place,  and  recover  the  leper* 


LECTURE  IV. 


247 


Are  not  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus,  better  than 
all  the  waters  of  Israel  ? May  I not  wash  in  them,  and  be 
clean  ? So  he  turned  and  went  away  in  a rage.”  What  a 
striking  instance  of  a man  retaining  his  proud  heart,  and  his 
lofty  carriage,  under  one  of  the  most  humbling  of  the  provi- 
dences of  God  ! Naaman,  the  subject  of  the  most  loathsome 
disease  of  which  the  Bible  tells,  is  just  as  proud,  as  haughty, 
as  unhumbled,  as  the  same  Naaman  in  perfect  health,  exulting 
in  his  personal  endowments  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  Syria. 
The  lesson  this  teaches,  is  a very  useful  one  ; a sick  bed,  a 
dark  and  trying  visitation,  even  a mortal  malady,  does  not 
necessarily  soften  or  subdue  the  heart.  You  will  be  disap- 
pointed if  you  expect  it ; you  may  pass  through  God’s  hottest 
furnace,  and  come  out  of  its  fires  as  thousands  do,  like  the 
potter’s  vessel,  harder  than  you  entered  them. 

If  you  really  desire  humbleness  of  heart,  and  who  that  hopes 
for  heaven  ought  not  ? you  must  not  wait  to  seek  it  in  a cham- 
ber of  sickness,  for  it  is  seldom  found  there.  Strive  for  it  in 
health,  pray  for  the  abiding  influences  of  God’s  good  Spirit 
now,  who  can,  without  any  of  these  means,  do  for  you  that 
which  the  heaviest  chastenings  of  God’s  hand,  without  the 
operation  of  His  Spirit,  never  will  effect. 

But  there  is  yet  another  lesson  to  be  learned  from  this  proud 
Syrian.  “ Behold,  I thought.  He  will  surely  come  out  to  me, 
and  stand,  and  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God,  and  strike 
his  hand  over  the  place,  and  recover  the  leper.”  No  doubt  he 
did.  Filled  with  the  idea  of  his  own  importance,  he  expected 
that  the  prophet  should  descend  from  his  tower,  and  stand 
humbly  beside  the  patient’s  chariot,  and  wave  his  hand  on 
high,  and  call  upon  the  name  of  his  God,  and  cure  him,  with 
“ all  the  pomp  and  circumstance”  of  miracle,  and  if  so,  he  will 
accept  the  boon ; but  if  it  is  to  be  done  without  any  considera- 
tion for  his  preconceived  opinions,  or  any  of  this  dramatic 
effect,  by  secret  prayer  and  simple  washing,  he  will  wrathfiilly 
and  scornfully  reject  it.  Brethren,  how  many  among  you  who 
can  see  the  folly,  the  madness,  of  this  act  of  the  leper,  have 


248 


ELISHA. 


imitated,  nay,  are  at  this  moment  imitating  it  yourselves  ? You 
stand  convicted  of  as  deeply  rooted,  as  fatal,  as  incurable,  a 
malady  as  that  of  Naaman.  For  have  you  not  acknowdedged, 
since  you  have  been  in  this  house  to-day,  that  you  are  “ miser- 
able sinners  ?”  Have  you  not  voluntarily  confessed,  “We  have 
left  undone  those  things  which  we  ought  to  have  done,  and 
we  have  done  those  things  which  we  ought  not  to  have  done, 
and  there  is  no  health  in  us  ?”  All  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  all 
the  devices  of  man,  so  the  Word  of  God  assures  us,  are  utterly 
unable  to  take  away  sin,  to  effect  your  cure.  You  come  to 
the  ministers  of  God,  and  you  are  referred  by  them  to  the  only 
fountain  ever  opened  upon  earth,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanliness ; 
you  are  told,  for  God  himself  has  told  you,  “ the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth ■ from  all  sin.”  “Wash  and  be  clean;” 
“ believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.” 
And  how  many  are  there  among  you  who  have  simply  and 
cordially  availed  themselves  of  this  proffered  remedy  ? And 
how  many  who,  from  the  very  simplicity  of  its  nature, 
have  turned  scornfully  or  thoughtlessly  away  ? What,  bathe 
in  Jordan,  said  Naaman,  when  “the  golden  streams”  (for 
so  they  were  called,)  run  through  Damascus  ? What,  go 
in  simplicity  to  the  blood  of  Christ  for  all  my  salvation  here- 
after, and  all  my  peace  and  pardon  here,  and  with  my  own 
heartfelt  exertions  and  golden  duties,  my  prayers,  my  upright- 
ness, my  charities,  be  content  to  take  my  stand  among  ray 
fellow-sinners,  and  be  treated  as  the  veriest  outcast  of  them  all  ? 
It  is  too  much  for  human  nature.  Yes,  brethren,  it  is  too  much 
for  nature,  but  it  is  not  too  much  for  grace.  God  can  enable 
you  to  receive  even  this,  deeply  mortifying  as  it  confessedly  is, 
that  if  you  would  be  clean,  you  must  not  mingle  any  thing  of 
your  own,  whether  they  be  labours  of  love  or  works  of  self- 
denial,  or  tears  of  penitence,  as  causes  of  your  justification 
before  Him,  with  that  pure  and  perfect  stream  which  flowed 
on  Calvary.  You  must  come,  the  holiest  and  the  best  among 
you,  with  the  most  polluted,  and  the  most  abandoned,  to  the 
same  crucified  Redeemer.  That,  in  the  language  of  our  Com- 


LECTURE  IV. 


249 


vfiunion  Service,  you  may  evermore  dwell  in  Christ  and  Christ 
in  you.  You  dwelling  in  Christ,  by  faith,  for  your  justification, 
and  Christ  dwelling  in  you,  by  his  Spirit,  for  your  sanctifica- 
tion. Beware  then,  I earnestly  entreat  you,  of  the  thousand 
errors  upon  this  high  subject,  with  which  the  devil  has  in  all 
ages,  deluded  men  to  their  ruin;  especially  be  upon  your 
guard  against  those  more  refined  and  subtle,  but  not  less  destruc- 
tive errors,  which  our  own  days,  in  opposition  alike  to  the 
concurrent  voice  of  the  best  ages  of  the  Church,  to  the  blessed 
light  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  our  Articles,  and  Homilies, 
have  so  remarkably  revived.  Beware  of  looking  to  any  thing 
in  yourselves,  even  to  any  “ infused  inherent  sanctification”  to 
effect  your  justification,  which  must  ever  be  the  antecedent  of 
the  former ; for  until  there  is  justification,  there  can  be  no 
sanctification.  Beware,  in  fact,  of  trusting  to  any  thing  out  of 
Christ,  for  this  great  and  blessed,  this  free  and  soul-saving  gift. 
In  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  is  our  safety ; wo  to  the  souls 
of  those  who  would  exalt  the  Abana  and  Pharpar,  the  earthly 
waters  of  human  holiness,  however  derived,  above,  or  on  a level 
with  the  heavenly  stream  of  a Saviour’s  blood  ! 

“ And  his  servants  came  near,  and  spake  unto  him,  and  said, 
My  father,  if  the  prophet  had  bid  thee  do  some  great  thing, 
wouldest  thou  not  have  done  it  ? how  much  rather  then,  when 
he  saith  to  thee.  Wash,  and  be  clean?” 

How  wise  an  expostulation  ! how  well  were  these  servants 
aware  of  this  infirmity  of  our  common  nature.  “If  the  prophet 
had  bid  thee  do  some  great  thing,  wouldest  thou  not  have  done 
it?”  Who  can  question  it?  And  what  Naaman  would  have 
done  cheerfully  for  the  health  of  his  body,  the  great  majority 
of  mankind  would  as  willingly  do,  the  followers  of  every  false 
religion  under  heaven,  are  at  this  moment  doing,  for  the  health 
of  their  souls.  From  the  pillar  monks  of  antiquity,  who,  to 
obtain  the  favour  of  God,  stood  for  days,  and  nights,  and  years, 
upon  their  columns,  exposed  to  every  change  of  temperature 
and  season,  down  to  the  ascetic  of  the  present  hour,  who  hopes, 
at  least  in  part,  to  win  his  way  to  heaven  by  the  self-iiiflicled 


250 


ELISHA. 


miseries  and  privations  of  earth  ; men  have  in  all  ages  preferred 
“ the  great  things”  of  their  own  invention,  to  the  simple  remedy 
of  God’s  revealing.  The  more  appalling  the  difficulty,  the  more 
flattering  to  our  proud  spirits  is  its  achievement.  The  more 
devious  the  path,  the  greater  the  ingenuity  to  walk  straightly 
in  it ; while  there  is  little  to  gratify  the  pride  of  human  wisdom, 
in  finding  our  road  to  heaven  by  that  “king’s  highway,”  as  the 
prophet  Isaiah  calls  it,  of  which  he  says,  “ The  wayfaring  man, 
though  a fool,  shall  not  err  therein.”  Yet,  brethren,  if  you 
would  enter  heaven,  through  this  highway  alone  can  you  travel 
thither ; if  you  would  be  healed,  in  this  fountain  alone  can  you 
be  cleansed.  Happily  for  Naaman,  the  expostulations  of  his 
servants  were  not  lost  upon  him,  for  we  read,  Then  went  he 
down,  and  dipped  himself  seven  times  in  Jordan,  according  to 
the  man  of  God : and  his  flesh  came  again  like  unto  the  flesh 
of  a little  child,  and  he  was  clean.” 

While  this  remarkable  miracle  affords  us  another  instance 
of  God’s  power,  how  instructive  an  evidence  is  it  also  of  the 
mysterious  operations  of  His  providence.  Our  Lord  himself 
pointedly  refers  to  it,  as  one  of  the  most  astonishing  proofs  of 
the  Almighty’s  sovereignty,  to  be  met  with  in  the  writings  of 
the  Old  Testsment,  when  he  says,  “ Many  lepers  were  in  Israel 
in  the  time  of  Eliseus  the  prophet ; and  none  of  them  was 
cleansed,  saving  Naaman  the  Syrian.”*  The  lepers  of  Israel 
were  passed  unnoticed  by,  while  this  Syrian  chieftain,  who  had 
often  led  his  armies  against  God’s  chosen  people,  was  selected 
amidst  his  pride  and  his  obduracy  and  his  idolatry,  to  be  the 
subject  of  a miracle  of  mercy  ! “ Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it 
seemed  good  in  thy  sight,”  was  the  reflection  of  our  Lord  him- 
self upon  a still  more  astonishing  proof  of  the  mysterious 
working  of  God’s  providence,  than  even  the  incident  before  us. 

Brethren,  it  is  well  to  learn  early  in  the  spiritual  life  this 
great  truth  ; that  there  are  many  points  in  our  earthly  pilgrimage, 
where  Reason  must  be  content  to  follow  Faith  blindfold  ; that 
there  are  depths  in  religion  where  the  strongest  Reason  will 


•*  Luke  iv.  27. 


LECTURE  IV. 


251 


infallibly  be  drowned,  unless  supported  in  the  arms  of  Faith; 
that  the  dearest  child  in  God’s  redeemed  family  must  often  be 
satisfied  when  he  feels  his  Father’s  hand,  whether  in  providence 
or  grace,  to  be  unable  to  trace  his  Father’s  footsteps.  Even 
David  was  compelled  to  say,  “ Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy 
path  in  the  great  waters,  and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known.”^ 
Yet  at  the  very  time  he  said  so,  he  devoutly  and  beautifully 
adds,  “ Thy  way,  O God,  is  in  the  sanctuary.”!  Though  it 
be  a way  of  darkness,  it  is  still  a way  of  holiness  and  truth. 
So  again  does  the  same  Psalmist  declare  of  Israel  of  old,  “ They 
wandered  in  the  wilderness  in  a solitary  way  ; they  found  no 
city  to  dwell  in.”  For  forty  years  was  this  trial  continued  to 
them,  yet  he  adds,  “ God  led  them  forth  by  the  right  way,  that 
they  might  go  to  a city  of  habitation. ”J  Though  the  footsteps 
of  the  Lord  be  hidden,  they  are  still  within  the  sanctuary; 
though  the  way  be  long  and  wearisome,  it  is  still  the  right  way. 
Such  we  scruple  not  to  say,  in  every  individual  instance,  shall 
we  find  it ; and  when  we  shall  look  down  upon  the  road,  as 
seen  from  the  habitations  of  the  heavenly  city,  and  trace  it  from 
the  far  distant  country  from  which  we  came,  and  observe  all  its 
trackless  windings,  and  its  now  unintelligible  turnings,  we  shall 
clearly  perceive  that  none  other  could  have  carried  us  to  the  many 
mansions  of  our  Father’s  house. 

Finally,  we  would  apply  spiritually  and  to  ourselves,  the 
completion  of  this  miracle,  as  we  have  already  done  the  steps 
which  led  to  it. 

We  may  learn  from  it  most  distinctly,  that  “ God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons but  that  His  mercy  and  His  love, 
whether  in  providence  or  in  grace,  are  open  to  all  who  seek 
them.  No  difficulties  of  rank,  no  station  or  employment, 
deeply-rooted  habits  of  iniquity,  no  depth  of  guilt,  need  neces- 
sarily keep  us  from  their  unlimited  offers,  from  their  unbounded 
treasures.  There  is  nothing  throughout  the  whole  of  God’s 
revealed  Word,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  to  lead  us  to  ques- 
tion this ; no  trace  of  a decree  whicji  should  prevent  one  poor 
* Psalm  Ixxvii.  19.  t Ibid.  13.  X Ibid.  cvii.  4,  7. 


252^ 


ELIS  H A. 


suffering  sinner  who  desires  it,  from  flying  to  the  living  foun- 
tain of  which  we  have  this  day  spoken  ; “ Whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely,”  are  the  words  of  Him 
who  spake  as  never  man  before  or  since  has  spoken.  Only 
resolve,  by  God’s  grace,  with  the  Syrian  to  be  immediate  in 
your  application,  not  to  hesitate,  not  to  procrastinate,  not  to 
wait  till  you  are  healed  before  you  come  to  the  physician,  but 
to  come  unhesitatingly  and  at  once,  and  Naaman’^  cure  was 
not  more  certain  than  your  own. 

Would  that  God  might,  at  this  moment,  see  some  heart 
here  present,  which  has  long  been  halting  between  two  opinions, 
long  wavering  upon  the  line  between  God  and  the  world,  long 
listening  to,  but  never  yet  absolutely  receiving  the  offers  of 
salvation,  now  by  His  grace  close  with  them  for  ever.  That 
he  might  hear  the  prayer  which  man  cannot  hear,  Lord,  create 
my  heart  anew,  enable  me  from  this  hour  to  renounce  every 
sin  which  has  hitherto  stood  between  thee  and  me,  to  give  up 
every  idol,  however  near  and  dear  to  me,  which  has  hitherto 
excluded  Thee  from  my  affections,  to  fulfil  every  duty  which 
Thou  hast  commanded,  and  which  I have  hitherto  evaded  or 
neglected,  but  above  all,  and  before  all,  to  cast  myself  as  a 
miserable  sinner  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  seeking 
there,  and  there  alone,  pardon  and  peace. 

Is  there  one  soul  that  sympathizes  with  me  while  I thus 
speak  ? One  who  has  entered  this  house  to-day,  it  may  even 
be  indifferent,  thoughtless,  sinful,  hoping  to  be  amused  and 
interested,  but  caring  little  to  be  profited,  and  yet  who  is  now, 
by  God’s  grace,  and  the  powerful  influence  of  his  Spirit,  begin- 
ning to  mourn  for  sin,  to  grieve  for  having  offended  God,  to 
desire  at  all  cost,  and  at  every  sacrifice,  to  be  saved  by  Clirist, 
and  by  Christ  alone.  If  there  be,  then  blessed  be  Gcd;  for 
this  fresh  instance  of  his  sovereign  love.  “ No  man  can  come 
to  me  except  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him.” 
Praised  be  God  for  that  one  sinner  that  repenteth.  We  say 
to  you,  “ Go  in  peace.”  Determine,  by  God’s  help,  to  live 
only  according  to  the  convictions  and  feelings  which  are  now 


LECTURE  V. 


253 


commencing,  and  in  the  service  of  Him  who  has  thus  sought 
and  found  you,  and  eternity  itself  shall  not  reverse  the  decision 
of  this  day.  Time  shall  have  run  its  weary  round,  and  be  no 
longer  ; ages  as  incalculable  as  the  drops  of  spring,  shall  have 
rolled  by,  for  ever,  and  there  amidst  joys  unnumbered  and  un- 
told, at  God’s  right  hand,  shall  you. remember  the  event  of  this 
day  and  hour  within  these  walls  ; that  here,  by  God’s  un- 
bounded grace,  was  first  sown  within  your  heart  the  imperish- 
able seed,  the  germ  of  a happy  immortality  ; that  here,  you 
were  made  “ one  with  Christ  and  Christ  with  you  even 
with  Him,  who  is  “ the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,” 
and  who  has  said,  of  the  least  and  lowest  of  his  people,  “ They 
shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of 
my  hand.” 


LECTURE  V. 

2 Kings  v.  26.  (part.) 

And  he  said  unto  him,  Went  not  mine  heart  with  thee,  when  the  man 
turned  again  from  his  chariot  to  meet  thee  ?” 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  lecture,  we  find 
Naaman,  the  Syrian,  once  more  retracing  his  steps  from  the 
banks  of  Jordan,  to  the  hill  of  Carmel — no  inconsiderable  jour- 
ney, to  testify  his  gratitude  to  Elisha  for  the  miracle  of  mercy, 
which  formed  the  subject  of  our  last  discourse.  “ To  him  that 
hath,”  says  the  word  of  inspiration,  “ shall  more  be  given.” 
One  blessing  rightly  improved,  one  mercy  thankfully  and  grate- 
fully acknowledged,  often  leads  the  way  to  far  greater  and  far 
higher  evidences  of  the  loving-kindness  and  compassion  of  our 
God.  Of  this,  Naaman  was  about  to  furnish  a striking  and 
profitable  example.  He  had  come  into  the  land  of  Israel,  only 
to  be  healed  of  his  leprosy,  and  God  sent  him  back  to  Syria, 
healed  of  his  corruption,  cleansed  of  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief, 
united  in  an  everlasting  covenant  with  the  great  Jehovah. 

22 


254 


ELISHA, 


Continuing  the  history  before  us  at  the  1 5th  verse,  we  read, 
“ And  Naaman  returned  to  the  man  of  God,  he  and  all  his 
company,  and  came  and  stood  before  him.”  The  lesson  of 
humility,  therefore,  to  which  we  alluded  in  the  last  lecture, 
had  now  been  learnt.  The  great  man  did  not  again  expect  the 
prophet  to  come  down,  and  stand  beside  his  chariot,  while  he 
sat  to  receive  his  miraculous  benediction.  He  is  willing,  with 
the  meek  and  lowly  spirit  of  a little  child,  to  humble  himself, 
and  while  he  acknowledges  his  temporal  mercies,  to  confess 
also  his  spiritual  change,  his  conversion  to  the  God  of  Israel 
“ Behold,  now,”  is  the  language  of  the  lately  idolatrous  Syrian, 
“ I know  that  there  is  no  God  in  all  the  earth  but  in  Israel : now 
therefore  I pray  thee,  take  a blessing,”  receive  a present, 
“ from  thy  servant.”  But  Elisha  said,  “ As  the  Lord  liveth, 
before  whom  I stand,  I will  receive  none.  And  he  urged  him 
to  take  it ; but  he  refused.  And  Naaman  said.  Shall  there  not 
then,  I pray  thee,  be  given  to  thy  servant  two  mules’  burthen 
of  earth  ? for  thy  servant  will  henceforth  offer  neither  burnt- 
offering  nor  sacrifice  unto  other  gods,  but  unto  the  Lord.”  In 
this,  we  trace,  probably,  some  remains  of  his  ancient  supersti- 
tion, although  there  was  clearly  none  of  his  idolatry,  for  he 
distinctly  promises  to  worship  no  other  god  but  the  God  of 
Israel.  Probably  he  thought,  that  as  God  had  commanded 
that  altars  should  be  built  of  earth,^  none  was  so  proper  for 
the  purpose  as  that  of  the  Holy  Land  itself.  However  this 
may  be,  if  it  were  a superstition,  it  was  clearly  an  innocent 
one ; for  the  prophet  leaves  him  in  the  possession  of  it,  unre- 
proved : and  Naaman  thus  continues  : “ In  this  thing  the  Lord 
pardon  thy  servant,  that  when  my  master  goeth  into  the  house 
of  Rimmon  to  worship  there,  and  he  leaneth  on  my  hand,  and 
I bow  myself  in  the  house  of  Rimmon;  the  Lord  pardon  thy 
servant  in  this  thing.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Go  in  peace.” 

There  are  few  points  upon  which  commentators  have  evi- 
dently been  more  perplexed,  than  in  reconciling  this  apparent 
reservation  of  Naaman  in  favour  of  at  least  a questionable 


* Exoclus  XX.  24. 


LECTURE  V. 


255 


observance,  with  the  silence  or  permission  of  Elisha.  Some, 
indeed,  have  entirely  overcome  the  difficulty,  by  supposing 
that  Naaman  is  speaking  of  what  is  past,  and  that  he  asked 
pardon  only  for  what  he  had  already  done,  and  not  for  what  he 
still  intended  to  do,  translating  the  passage  thus,  “ When  my 
master  has  gone  into  the  house  of  Rimmon  to  worship  there, 
and  has  leaned  on  my  hand,  and  I have  bowed  myself  in  the 
house  of  Rimmon,  the  Lord  pardon  thy  servant  in  this  thing.” 
If  the  original  w^ould  bear  this  construction,  there  is  no  doubt 
nothing  could  be  more  satisfactory  ; but  the  best  Hebrew 
scholars  question  this,  and  all  ancient  versions  and  translations 
oppose  it.  In  the  face,  therefore,  of  such  testimony,  we  can- 
not adopt  it,  but  must  consider  the  sentence  as  presented  to  us 
in  our  translation. 

If,  however,  you  will  only  consider  how  much  the  new  con- 
vert had  already  promised,  and  how  little  the  prophet  favoured 
his  reservation  of  what  still  remained,  we  hardly  think  that  any 
very  dangerous  lesson  can  be  deduced,  even  from  the  most 
literal  interpretation  of  the  passage  before  us.  Naaman  had 
distinctly  declared,  that  he  now  acknowledged  no  other  god  in 
all  the  earth,  but  the  God  of  Israel ; he  had  said  more,  he  had 
promised  that  henceforth  he  would  never  offer  another  sacrifice 
to  any  but  the  great  Jehovah  ; the  reservation  which  he  makes, 
is  simply  this ; that  when  the  king,  his  master,  takes  him  into 
the  house  of  his  idol,  as  a matter  of  state,  leaning  on  his  arm, 
if  he  bows  himself  when  his  master  does  so,  not  in  religious 
worship,  for  this  he  absolutely  disavow^s ; not  in  hypocritical 
dissimulation,  for  that  would  be  irreconcilable  with  the  character 
of  a man  who  could  thus  openly  mention  it  to  the  prophet ; but 
as  a matter  of  courtesy  and  state  service,  he  may  find  pardon 
from  the  Lord  in  this  thing,  which,  though  not  idolatry  itself, 
would  obviously  favour  idolatry  before  others.  And  what  is 
the  prophet’s  answer  ? Does  he  say  it  shall  be  so,  or  is  his 
reply  equivalent  to  this?  We  think  not;  he  simply  rejoins, 
Go  in  peace.”  Do  not  perplex  yourself  about  this  inquiry ; 
it  is  not  worth  our  entering  upon  at  present.  I neither  approve 


256 


ELISHA. 


nor  condemn  ; in  the  end  all  will  be  well.  He  saw  that  the 
new  convert  was  sincere ; he  saw  that  the  great  work,  the 
change  of  heart,  had  been  effected  by  the  Spirit  of  God  ; and 
he  knew,  as  his  Divine  Master  in  after  ages  so  wisely  and 
mercifully  taught,  that  it  was  not  good  to  “ put  old  wine  into 
new  bottles,”  and  to  load  the  tender  feelings  of  the  weak  disciple 
with  duties,  most  painful  and  difficult  even  to  the  strongest,  or 
to  expose  him  at  once  to  the  most  trying  of  all  opposition,  the 
sneers  and  sarcasms  of  his  companions. 

Elisha  foresaw,  that  the  time  would  come  when  Naaman 
would  himself  see  the  impropriety  of  even  the  slightest  con- 
formity to  a guilty  and  an  accursed  idolatry  ; when  he  would 
refuse,  even  for  the  friendship  of  his  king,  to  hazard  the  approval 
of  the  King  of  kings  ; when,  the  seed  so  lately  sown,  and  now 
scarcely  in  the  blade,  would  become  the  strong  and  powerful 
tree  ; and  he  was  content  to  wait  for  this.  He  therefore  treated 
the  tender  plant  with  gentleness,  and  neither  broke  the  bruised 
reed,  nor  quenched  the  smoking  flax. 

Is  it,  brethren,  “ the  day  of  small  things,”  as  the  prophet 
terms  it,  with  any  whom  I now  address,  then  may  they  gather 
much  scriptural  encouragement  from  the  narrative  before  us. 
They  cannot  at  present  receive  difficult  doctrines,  or  fulfil 
painful,  self-denying  duties,  as  many  of  their  stronger  brethren 
can.  Cases  are  continually  arising,  as  perplexing  and  as 
harassing  to  them  as  the  house  of  Rimmon  was  to  Naaman. 
May  I partake  of  such  an  amusement  ? May  I innocently  enter 
into  such  society  ? Will  the  Lord  pardon  such  an  act  of  con- 
formity to  the  world  ? It  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any  general 
rule  which  shall  meet  all  cases,  but  of  this  be  assured,  that  if 
you  really  feel  the  same  anxiety  to  be  guided  by  the  will  of 
God,  and  the  same  sincerity  as  Naaman,  you  will  not  long  be 
left  in  difficulty  upon  any  point  of  conduct,  which  is  material 
to  your  happiness,  either  here  or  hereafter.  Many  of  these 
things  will  at  first  be  doubtful  to  you,  but,  by  God’s  grace,  they 
wiU  soon  be  made  plain ; only  be  careful  to  act  according  to 
your  convictions^  to  advance  as  they  advance,  to  forsake  every 


LECTURE  V. 


257 


thing  offensive  to  God  so  soon  as,  by  prayerful  inquiry,  you 
have  discovered  it  to  be  so,  and  we  venture  to  say,  Go  in 
peace.”  You  will  never  be  left  to  perish  in  unknown  or  dis- 
regarded sin.  Be  careful  only  that,  while  you  receive  this 
example  to  your  comfort,  you  do  not  take  it  to  your  injury  ; 
that  you  do  not  allow  it  to  satisfy  you,  if  in  the  commission  of 
any  known  transgression,  or  in  the  disregard  of  any  positive 
commandment,  or  while  lagging  tardily  and  carelessly  on  the 
Christian  course,  and  ashamed  of  the  Saviour,  whom  you  desire 
to  serve.  We  dare  not  say  to  you,  “ Go  in  peace,”  if  this  be 
the  use  you  intend  to  make  of  the  example  before  us,  for  “ there 
is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked;”  and  few  would 
more  deserve  that  name  than  they  who  should  endeavour  to 
wrest  such  an  example  to  such  a purpose,  to  “ sin  that  grace 
may  abound.”  But  it  may,  and  ought  to  encourage  you,  whose 
feet  have  but  lately  been  planted  on  the  road  that  leads  to  Zion, 
to  walk  on  cheerfully  and  happily,  not  being  cast  down  by  little 
failures  ; not  driven  to  despair  by  the  slowness  of  your  advances ; 
not  rendered  wretched  because  you  perceive  duties,  which, 
with  every  desire  most  conscientiously  to  attend  to,  you  are  at 
present  unable  to  fulffl : only  bear  in  mind  that  “ the  path  of 
the  just  is,”  invariably,  “ as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.”  Recollect  that  what 
might  satisfy  the  prophet  in  the  first  few  hours  of  Naaman’s 
conversion,  would  have  shocked  him  after  as  many  years. 
That  your  Lord  and  Saviour,  with  all  the  tenderness  which  he 
so  remarkably  evinced  during  the  whole  of  his  earthly  sojourn, 
for  the  young  believer,  made  no  exception  in  their  favour  when 
he  said,  “ If  any  man  be  ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words,  of 
Him  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  ashamed  when  he  cometh  in  his 
glory,  and  with  the  holy  angels ;”  “ and  whosoever  deny 
me  before  men,  him  will  I deny  before  the  angels  of  God.” 

Naaman  having,  as  we  have  seen,  obtained  the  prophet’s 
blessing,  departed,  and  no  doubt,  like  the  Ethiopian  in  after 
ages,  “ went  on  his  way  rejoicing.” 

But  the  worst  portion  of  our  history  yet  remains  to  be  told. 

22* 


258 


ELISHA. 


Gehazi,  of  whom  nothing  we  have  hitherto  heard,  has  led  us 
to  form  any  very  favourable  opinion,  appears  to  have  been  one 
among  the  many  instances  which  mark,  alas  ! that  proximity 
to  grace  differs  widely  from  the  possession  of  it ; that  you  may 
be  the  children  of  the  most  pious  parents,  or  the  servants  of  the 
most  holy  and  religious  families,  or  the  constant  attendants 
upon  the  most  scriptural  ministry,  and  yet  remain  as  utterly 
destitute  of  all  good,  as  the  veriest  outcast,  before  whom  the 
name  of  God  was  never  named. 

The  manner  in  which  Gehazi  is  now  introduced,  acquaints  us 
at  once  with  his  intentions  and  thoughts  ; for  the  inspired  writer 
presents  him,  while  communing  with  himself.  “ Gehazi,  the 
servant  of  Elisha  the  man  of  God,  said,  Behold,  my  master 
hath  spared  Naaman  this  Syrian,  but,  as  the  Lord  liveth,  I 
will  run  after  him,  and  take  somewhat  of  him.”  “ As  the  Lord 
liveth  !”  yes,  how  lightly  and  how  easily  do  the  most  solemn 
asseverations,  the  most  awful  oaths  drop  from  the  lips  of  reck- 
less, ungodly  men.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  deed  which 
Gehazi  so  unscrupulously  calls  God  to  witness  ? “As  the 
Lord  liveth,”  he  will  follow  the  Syrian,  and  deceive,  and  rob 
him.  He  was  shortly  to  be  taught,  that  what  he  thus  said  in 
thoughtlessness,  should  be  impressed  upon  his  soul,  with  an 
emphasis  he  little  dreamed  of ; that  he  should  soon,  not  only 
know,  but  feel  that  “ the  Lord  liveth,”  and  should  carry  the 
proof  of  it  in  his  countenance  until  his  dying  day.  How  many 
a man  shall  find,  hereafter,  that  the  horrible  oath,  the  thought- 
less imprecation,  “ the  swearer’s  prayer,”  so  continually  heard 
in  our  streets,  has  been  heard  also  by  the  God  whom  it  insults, 
and  “ as  the  Lord  liveth,”  it  shall  have  its  full  accomplishment 
upon  the  souls  of  the  speakers.  “ So  Gehazi  followed  after 
Naaman.  And  when  Naaman  saw  him  running  after  him,  he 
lighted  down  from  the  chariot  to  meet  him.” 

It  is  pleasing  to  observe  that  the  humility  of  Naaman  does 
not  exist  merely  while  standing  before  Elisha.  He  is  as  will- 
ing to  descend  from  his  chariot  to  greet  the  prophet’s  servant, 
as  he  had  once  been  unwilling  to  humble  himself  even  in  the 


LECTURE  V. 


259 


prophet’s  own  presence.  And  Naaman  said,  “Is  all  well?” 
And  Gehazi  said,  “ All  is  well and  doubtless  so  he  thought. 
It  was  well  that  his  master  had  not  seen  him  leave  the  tower ; 
it  was  well  that  he  was  received  thus  courteously,  and  had  so 
fair  a hope  that  he  should  cheat  this  Syrian,  and  grow  rich  at 
his  expense,  and  escape  detection.  And  so  the  sinner  says, 
“ All  is  well,”  while  hiding  his  guilty  practices  from  those 
around  him  ; and  so  the  adulteress,  in  the  Proverbs,  is  repre- 
sented, “she  eateth,  and  wipeth  her  mouth,  and  saith,  I have 
done  no  wickedness  each  thinking  that  no  eye  has  borne 
witness  to  the  crime.  But  could  Gehazi  have  seen  the  leprosy 
which  even  then  was  hanging  over  his  devoted  head,  could  the 
hardened  sinner  view  the  gulf  which  even  now  is  yawning  at 
his  feet,  we  doubt  if  either  of  them  would  so  readily  reply, 
“ All  is  well.”  No ! all  may  doubtless  be  well  in  the  prospect, 
and  often  in  the  committal  of  sin,  but  all  will  not  be  well,  when 
in  the  day  of  righteous  judgment,  God  shall  smite  the  sinner 
until  he  destroy  him.  “ The  mill  of  God  grinds  late,  but 
grinds  to  powder.” 

“My  master  hath  sent  me,”  continues  the  false-hearted 
Gehazi,  “ saying,  Behold,  even  now  there  be  come  to  me  from 
Mount  Ephraim  two  young  men  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets ;” 
inferring,  therefore,  that  they  had  arrived  quite  unexpectedly, 
and  since  Naaman’s  departure.  “ Give  them,  I pray  thee,  a 
talent  of  silver,  and  two  changes  of  garments.”  The  grateful 
Syrian,  no  doubt  rejoicing  that  he  could,  out  of  his  abundance, 
make  some  little  return  to  the  prophet,  replies,  “ Be  content, 
take  two  talents.  And  he  urged  him,”  even  Gehazi  having 
some  hesitation,  as  it  appears,  to  possess  himself  of  so  large  a 
sum,  “ and  bound  two  talents  of  silver  in  two  bags,  with  two 
changes  of  garments,  and  laid  them  upon  two  of  his  servants  ; 
and  they  bare  them  before  him.”  A large  and  heavy  burden, 
for,  independently  of  the  raiment,  there  were  nearly  seven 
hundred  pounds  sterling  in  silver.  “ And  when  he  came  to  the 
tower,  he  took  them  from  their  hand,  and  bestowed  them  in 


* ProY.  XXX.  20. 


2G0 


ELISHA. 


the  house.”  We  can  well  imagine  his  anxiety,  while  convey 
ing  his  ill-gotten  treasures  to  a place  of  safety  ; how  cautiously 
does  he  ascertain  whether  his  master  had  inquired  for  him 
during  his  absence ; how  carefully  does  he  take  them  from 
Naaman’s  servants,  and  “let  the  men  go,”  that  there  might  be 
no  witnesses  to  his  guilt. 

And  now  “ all,”  certainly,  “ is  well,”  for  his  project  has 
thoroughly  succeeded.  So  “ he  went  in,  and  stood  before  his 
master.”  What  a climax  to  his  duplicity  and  effrontery  ! He 
returned  from  his  robbery  and  falsehood,  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened, and  “ stood  before  his  master.” 

My  brethren,  we  have  all  voluntarily  come  to  God’s  house 
to-day,  to  stand  before  our  Master ; is  there  no  one  here  present, 
whose  conscience,  while  viewing  this  point  in  the  narrative  we 
are  considering,  whispers  to  him,  “ Thou  art  the  man  ?” 
Thou  hast  come  to  stand  before  God,  after  that  act  of 'dishon- 
esty, after  those  words  of  falsehood,  after  those  secret,  but 
habitual  sins  of  uncleanness,  of  uncharitableness,  or  of  lust. 
How  fearful  is  the  guilt  to  stand  before  God,  with  a countenance 
unabashed,  but  with  unforsaken  sin  within  the  heart ! God  is 
not  mocked  ; the  habitual  falsifier,  the  hidden  thief,  the  disguised 
sensualist,  the  secret  adulterer,  may  all  come  to  God’s  house 
of  prayer,  and  stand  before  their  Master,  as  Gehazi  before 
Elisha ; but  that  God  who  sees  the  heart,  sees  through  the 
flimsy  veil  of  hypocrisy  which  hangs  so  loosely  over  it,  and 
knows  the  guilt,  and  corruption,  and  deceit  which  are  lurking 
there,  and  has  himself  pronounced,  in  reference  to  all  such, 
“ The  prayer  of  the  wicked  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord.” 
Be  careful,  then,  that  you  come  not  thus  before  the  presence  of 
a holy  and  heart-searching  God  ; that  you  enter  not  into  his 
house  ; that  you  fall  not  low  before  his  footstool  with  any  unre- 
pented, unforsaken  sin.  For,  be  ye  sure,  that  so  long  as  one 
sin  is  cherished  and  intentionally  persevered  in,  it  is  deadening 
your  prayers,  hardening  your  heart,  ruining  your  soul ; and, 
after  all,  is,  in  reality,  like  Gehazi’s,  deceiving  no  one  but  your- 
self. Attempt  not,  then,  to  stand  before  your  Master,  until  you 


LECTURE  V. 


261 


have  deeply  sorrowed  for  your  transgressions,  and  earnestly 
and  faithfully  sought  pardon  at  the  hands  of  your  offended  God, 
through  the  blood  of  the  “ one  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
the  man  Christ  Jesus.”*  For  if  our  Lord  himself  could  say, 
“First  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer 
thy  gift,”  have  not  we,  the  ambassadors  of  that  Saviour,  great 
and  urgent  cause  to  say.  First  be  reconciled  to  thy  Master,  and 
then  come  and  offer  thy  prayers. 

Continuing  the  history,  we  read,  “ And  Elisha  said  unto  him, 
Whence  comest  thou,  Gehazi  ? And  he  said.  Thy  servant  went 
no  whither.”  Miserable  man.  He  attempts  to  cover  his  rob- 
bery with  a direct  and  positive  falsehood : of  all  sins,  at  once 
the  most  despicable,  and  we  fear  we  must  add,  the  most  com- 
mon. It  was  the  first  sin  which  entered  into  the  world,  and 
judging  by  the  experience  of  every  succeeding  age,  will  be  the 
last  to  leave  it.  Yet  if  there  be  a sin  which  God  has  marked 
by  the  tokens  of  his  Divine  displeasure,  in  the  shape  of  tem- 
poral judgments,  more  strongly  than  any  other,  it  is  this  sin  of 
lying.  To  urge  the  people  of  the  world  to  forsake  it,  is  utterly 
hopeless,  it  forms  the  very  soul  of  their  intercourse,  it  gives 
the  last  polish  to  their  compliments,  the  last  gilding  to  their 
courtesies,  the  last  finish  to  their  politeness ; it  is  the  strong 
chain,  without  which  their  hollow  society,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, would  fall  to  pieces.  For  who  could  tolerate  sincerity, 
where  the  truth  would  often  be  so  bitterly  distasteful ! But, 
Christian  brethren,  “ What  have  we  to  do  to  judge  them  that 
are  without  ?”  for  “ them  that  are  without  God  judgeth.”t  Let 
us  who  make  some  profession  of  religion,  judge  ourselves,  and 
see  that  the  evil  cleave  not  unto  us.  Let  us  avoid,  carefully 
and  prayerfully,  every  approach  to  a sin  so  utterly  subversive 
of  true  Christian  intercourse,  and  so  destructive  to  our  Chris- 
tian character.  “ I have  no  greater  joy,  than  to  hear  that  my 
children  walk  in  truth,”  is  the  testimony  of  the  beloved  apostle. 
“ Wherefore  putting  away  lying,”  as  St.  Paul  says,  endeavour, 
as  far  as  you  are  able,  to  avoid  every  equivocation,  every  trifling 
* 1 Epistle  of  Tim.  ii.  5.  t 1 Cor.  v.  12, 


262 


ELISHA. 


evasion,  exaggeration,  or  deception,  and  “speak  every  man 
truth  with  his  neighbour : for,  we  are  members  one  of  another.”^ 

If  Gehazi  supposed  that  he  could  deceive  the  Spirit  of  pro- 
phecy, and  lie  successfully  unto  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  a single 
moment  was  sufficient  to  convince  him  of  his  folly,  and  to  fix 
upon  himself  and  upon  his  seed  for  ever,  the  due  reward  of  his 
sin.  Listen  only  to  the  withering  remonstrance  of  his  justly 
offended  master ; “ And  Elisha  said  unto  him,  Went  not  mine 
heart  with  thee,  when  the  man  turned  again  from  his  chariot  to 
meet  thee  ? Is  it  a lime  to  receive  money,  and  to  receive  gar- 
ments, and  oliveyards,  and  vineyards,  and  sheep  and  oxen,  and 
men-servants,  and  maid-servants  ?”  All  of  which  Gehazi  had 
no  doubt  intended  to  purchase  with  the  rich  booty  that  he 
thought  he  had  secured.  “ The  leprosy  therefore  of  Naaman 
shall  cleave  unto  thee  and  unto  thy  seed  for  ever.”  How  hor- 
rible, and  yet  how  just!  The  tormenting  and  loathsome  and 
incurable  malady  fell  at  once  upon  the  unhappy  culprit.  “,And 
he  went  out  from  the  prophet’s  presence  a leper  as  white  as 
snow.” 

Brethren,  there  is  not,  perhaps,  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
eventful  history  wdiich  we  are  reviewing,  a more  awakening, 
or  a more  instructive  fact,  than  that  which  led  to  this  detection 
and  punishment  of  Gehazi.  His  indignant  master’s  eye  had 
seen,  and  his  heart  had  accompanied  him,  through  all  the  tor- 
tuous road  of  his  dishonesty  and  falsehood.  “ Went  not  mine 
heart  with  thee  ?”  is  the  language  which  at  once  reveals  the 
secret  witness  of  his  guilt.  Mark  well  then  the  lesson  which 
is  so  plainly  taught  us.  If  the  prophet  had  the  power,  thus  to 
follow  his  servant  into  his  most  secret  retirements,  and  to  be 
witness  of  his  most  concealed  and  guilty  actions,  what  must  be 
the  power  of  that  Being  who  could  communicate  such  a super- 
natural gift  to  Elisha.  And  while  it  magnifies  the  power,  how 
forcibly  does  it  illustrate  the  omnipresence,  of  our  God.  “ If  I 
ascend  up  into  heaven,”  says  the  Psalmist,  “ thou  art  there  : 

* Ephes.  iv.  25. 


LECTURE  V. 


263 


if  I make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If  I take  the 
wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
sea ; even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand 
shall  hold  me.”^ 

How  awakening  a reflection.  Go  whither  you  will,  you 
cannot  go  beyond  the  presence  of  God.  You  never  withdraw 
into  the  most  secret  chamber,  and  shut  to  the  door,  to  meditate 
upon  a scheme  of  wickedness,  or  to  perpetrate  an  act  of  sin, 
but  one  person  more  was  present  than  you  bethought  yourself, 
and  that  person  was  God. 

You  never  entered  into  scenes  of  immorality,  or  profligacy, 
however  unsuspected  by  those  whose  opinion  you  valued,  or 
whose  displeasure  you  feared,  that  there  was  not  one  heart 
present,  upon  which  you  little  calculated.  “ Went  not  mine 
heart  with  thee?”  saith  the  Lord. 

But  while  we  would  suggest  this  consideration,  to  awaken 
and  convict  the  sinner,  there  is  also  much,  very  much  in  it, 
which  ought  powerfully  and  encouragingly  to  influence  the 
people  of  God.  Shall  it  be,  that  the  thought  of  an  ever  present 
God  is  painfully  oppresive  to  the  world,  and  shall  it  not  be 
sweetly  consolatory  to  the  Christian?  Surely,  of  all  God’s 
attributes,  none  can  be  selected  that  is  calculated  to  afford  those 
among  you,  who  are  desiring  to  live  in  all  holy  obedience  to  a 
reconciled  Father,  such  strong  and  blessed  consolation.  Only 
remember,  while  you  dwell  upon  this  great  truth,  that  God  is 
with  you,  not  merely  in  any  one  of  His  attributes,  as  His 
justice.  His  eternity,  or  His  power,  for  this  would  fearfully 
distress  the  heart,  even  of  the  holiest  of  his  people  ; but  recol- 
lect that  wherever  God.  is,  all  His  attributes  are  gathered 
together,  all  His  perfections  present,  as  they  were  in  the  person 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If,  therefore,  you  are  in  difficulties, 
think  of  Him  as  a God,  present  in  wisdom,  and  you  shall 
secure  a guide  ; in  weakness,  as  a God  of  strength,  and  you 
shall  not  want  a supporter ; in  sorrow,  as  a God  of  consolation, 
and  you  shall  never  need  a friend.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  let 
* Ps.  cxxxix.  8-10. 


2G4 


ELISHA. 


US  dwell  for  a few  moments  practically  upon  some  of  the 
encouragements  of  this  high  doctrine,  the  omnipresence  of  our 
God. 

Are  you  engaged,  and  I trust  that  many  whom  I now  address 
are  so  employed,  in  any  good  and  holy  w^ork,  in  the  service  of 
your  heavenly  Father,  how  “ strengthening  and  refreshing”  to 
your  souls  to  hear,  “ Went  not  mine  heart  with  thee,”  in  that 
labour  of  love  ; in  that  work  of  self-denial ; to  the  house  of 
that  poor  sufferer,  where,  while  bestowing  kind  and  bountiful 
relief  to  his  temporal  necessities,  thou  didst  not  forget  to  remind 
him  of  my  blessed  promises  and  soul-saving  truths?  “ Went 
not  mine  heart  wdth  thee,”  when  thou  gav3st  jp  hours  of 
domestic  comfort,  to  assist  my  ministers,  to  teaiiii  my  schools, 
to  instruct  the  little  ones  of  my  flock?  “Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  unto  me.” 

When  you  retire,  and  I speak  now  to  the  poorest  and  the 
lowest  of  my  hearers,  when  you  retire  to  your  humble  dwell- 
ings, and  take  down  the  book  of  God,  and  meditate  upon  its 
blessed  promises,  and  pray,  perhaps,  in  utter  solitude,  over  its 
life-giving  doctrines  and  its  holy  precepts,  and  think,  that  no 
eye  can  see,  and  no  heart  can  sympathize  with  you,  is  it  not 
“ a joy,  with  which  a stranger  intermeddleth  not,”  to  know,  to 
feel  that  a Father’s  heart  and  a Father’s  eye  are  there,  seeing 
what  the  world  cannot  see,  and  valuing  highly,  and  hereafter 
rewarding  openly,  what  the  world,  if  it  saw,  would  only  despise 
and  condemn  ? Yes,  “ Went  not  mine  heart  with  thee  ?”  is  an 
inquiry  as  cheering  to  you,  as  it  is  appalling  to  the  sinner. 

Again,  when  the  Christian  wife,  or  mother,  watches  in  faith 
and  patience,  beside  the  sick-bed  of  a beloved  husband,  or  a 
dying  child,  is  it  nothing  to  know,  and  to  experience,  that  there 
is  always  present.  One  who  is  “ touched  with  a feeling  of  our 
infirmities,”  who  ha«  declared,  “ In  all  their  affliction,  I am 
afflicted,”  and  who  will  not,  and  who  cannot  leave  you,  who 
will  watch  with  you,  through  those  hours  of  lonely  darkness, 
and  give  you  strength  for  the  most  arduous  duties,*  and  peace 
under  the  most  afflictive  and  trying  visitations  ? And,  at  last, 


LECTURE  V. 


2 Oft 

when  the  days  of  personal  trial  shall  come,  as  come  they  must, 
to  the  youngest,  the  healthiest,  the  strongest  among  us,  “Or 
ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken, 
and  the  spirit  returns  unto  God  who  gave  it,”*  who  can  tell 
how  great  and  blessed  will  be  the  consolation  which  this  high 
truth  and  attribute  of  our  God  shall  bestow  ? At  such  an  hour, 
perhaps  the  memory  of  many  an  infirmity  and  sin,  of  which 
we  now  enjoy  every  hope  that  it  is  pardoned,  will  be  forced 
back  upon  the  conscience,  by  the  great  accuser  of  the  brethren, 
who  is  then  almost  invariably  present,  striving  to  torment, 
where  he  cannot  destroy.  How  comforting  will  the  feeling  be, 
that  He  also  is  with  us,  who  has  set  His  foot,  as  conqueror, 
upon  the  serpent’s  head,  and  who  has  said,  “ I have  blotted  out, 
as  a thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions,  and,  as  a cloud  thy  sins,” 
“ there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus.” 
You  may  be,  for  many  are  at  such  an  hour,  unable  to  join 
together  two  words  of  connected  prayer,  or  to  give  utterance  to 
one  holy  aspiration : then  again,  how  blessed  is  the  fact,  that 
He  is  present,  even  Jesus  the  Mediator,  “ who  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession Jpr  you,”  and  will  pray  for  you,  when  you 
cannot  utter  one  syllable  of  prayer  for  yourself.  And  when  all 
is  over,  and  the  fainting  heart  and  the  closing  eye  too  plainly 
tell  that  the  last  struggle  is  ending,  the  last  victory  to  be  won, 
words  cannot,  for  words  have  never  yet  described,  the  blessed- 
ness, at  such  a time,  of  an  ever-present  Creator,  Redeemer, 
and  Sanctifier,  who  has  said,  My  rod  and  my  staff  shall  com- 
fort thee,  and  when  thy  heart  and  thy  flesh  faileth,  I am  the 
strength  of  thy  heart,  and  thy  portion  for  ever.  Brethren,  be 
assured  that  the  Christian’s  highest  solace  here,  will  also  be 
his  highest  joy  throughout  the  ages  of  eternity,  the  abiding 
presence  of  his  God,  for  it  is  this,  which  alone  can  constitiua 
heaven.  “ I go  to  prepare  a place  for  you  ; that  where  I am, 
there  ye  may  be  also.” 


* Eccl.  xii.  6. 


266 


ELISHA. 


LECTURE  VI. 

2 Kings  vi.  17. 

“ And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I pray  thee,  open  his  eyes  that  he 
may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man  j and  he 
saw  : and  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  Elisha.” 

In  the  last  incident  that  formed  a portion  of  the  history  we 
are  reviewing,  we  were  led,  by  the  astonishing  power  vouch^ 
safed  to  Elisha,  to  dwell  upon  that  most  wonderful  attribute  of 
the  Alm^hty  which  it  so  strikingly  illustrated — the  omnipres- 
ence of  God.  The  narrative  which  is  this  day  to  occupy  our 
attention,  will  convey  to  our  minds  an  equally  convincing 
evidence  of  another  attribute  of  the  great  Jehovah,  in  which  we 
are,  as  individuals,  as  deeply  and  feelingly  interested — the 
omniscience  of  the  Almighty.  May  the  conviction  of  this  great 
truth  take  full  possession  of  our  minds,  that  remembering  that 
“ all  things  are  naked,  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do,”^  we  may  learn  to  live  and  speak,  and 
think,  as  continually  within  the  ken  of  His  all-seeing  eye,  and 
the  hearing  of  His  all-hearing  ear. 

Commencing  with  the  eighth  verse  of  the  sixth  chapter,  we 
read,  “ Then  the  king  of  Syria  warred  against  Israel,  and  took 
counsel  with  his  servants,  saying,  In  such  and  such  a place 
shall  be  my  camp.  And  the  man  of  God  sent  unto  the  king 
of  Israel,  saying.  Beware  that  tliou  pass  not  such  a place  ; for 
thither  the  Syrians  are  come  down.  And  the  king  of  Israel 
sent  to  the  place  which  the  man  of  God  told  him  and  warned 
him  of,  and  saved  himself  there,  not  once  or  twice.  Therefore 
the  heart  of  the  king  of  Syria  was  sore  troubled  for  this  thing  ; 
and  he  called  his  servants,  and  said  unto  them,  Will  ye  not 
show  me  which  of  us  is  for  the  king  of  Israel  ? And  one  of 
his  servants  said.  None,  my  lord,  O king:  but  Elisha,  the 
Mleb.  iv.  13. 


LECTURE  VI. 


267 


prophet  that  is  in  Israel,  telle th  the  king  of  Israel  the  words 
that  thou  speakest  in  thy  bedchamber.” 

What  an  astonishing  power  was  this  which  the  Almighty 
communicated  to  his  prophet ! The  words  spoken  in  the 
innermost  recesses  of  the  Syrian  palace,  were  made  known  to 
a resident  in  a foreign  land,  to  enable  him  to  frustrate  the  evil 
designs  of  him  who  spake  them.  And  this,  says  the  narrative, 
“ Not  once  or  twice  to  mark  that  it  was  no  accident,  no  mere 
coincidence,  but  that  all  the  words,  and  every  word,  spoken  by 
the  king  of  Syria,  were  divulged  by  the  Spirit  of  God  unto 
Elisha. 

It  is  merciful,  brethren,  that  God  has  been  pleased  to  give 
us  such  plain  illustrations  of  some  of  the  most  awful,  and,  at 
the  same  lime,  the  most  incomprehensible  attributes  of  Deity, 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  characteristic  of  the  Almighty,  so 
absolutely  necessary  to  our  right  conception  of  a God,  yet  so 
difficult  to  understand,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  powerfully 
influential  when  justly  apprehended,  as  His  omniscience.  It 
is  upon  the  practical  effect  of  this  attribute  on  our  own  hearts 
and  lives,  that  I desire  to  address  you  tliis  morning.  Let  me 
illustrate  what  that  effect  ought  to  be,  and  what,  if  this  attribute 
is  rightly  received,  it  really  will  be,  by  an  example  from  the 
history  of  our  Church.  It  is  related  of  Bishop  Latimer,  that 
when  called  up  for  private  examination  before  his  Popish 
persecutors,  he  was  at  first  not  very  particular  as  to  the  expres- 
sions he  made  use  of,  in  his  replies,  “ But,”  added  that  holy 
martyr,  when  narrating  the  circumstance,  “ I soon  heard  the 
pen  going  behind  the  arras,  and  found  that  all  I said  was  taken 
down,  and  then  I was  careful  enough  of  what  I uttered.” 
Such,  brethren,  will  be  the  effect  of  a sincere  belief  in  this 
high  attribute  of  the  Almighty,  upon  your  own  lives  and 
conversations.  If  once  you  can  only  realize  the  fact,  that 
while  you  are  acting,  talking,  thinking,  upon  earth,  the  pen  is 
going  in  heaven,  that  every  word  and  every  thought  is  known 
and  recorded  there,  as  soon  as  it  is  uttered  or  engendered  here, 
we  shall  have  no  more  careless,  thoughtless,  inconsistent 


268 


ELISHA. 


walking.  No,  the  eye  of  a child  would  have  prevented  many 
a deed,  of  which  your  heart  and  consciences  are  ashamed,  and 
shall  the  eye  of  an  all-seeing  God  do  less  ? Can  you  believe 
that  God  knows  all,  sees  all,  hears  all,  that  passes,  and  yet 
scarcely  ever  be  influenced  by  it  for  a single  moment  ? It  is 
impossible.  If  you  are  thus  indifferent,  you  do  not  really 
believe  in  ah  omniscient  God.  For  instance,  you  affect  to  be 
restrained  from  outward  actions  lest  you  disobey  God,  and  yet 
you  do  not  blush  to  entertain  the  most  unholy,  licentious, 
uncharitable,  or  ambitious  thoughts.  If  you  possessed  a real 
faith  in  the  omniscience  of  God  there  could  not  be  this  differ- 
ence. You  might,  and  you  certainly  would  still  offend,  both 
in  thoughts  and  deeds,  but  you  would  as  certainly  exercise  at 
least  the  same  degree  of  discipline  over  your  thoughts  as  over 
your  actions,  because  you  would  feel  that  to  a God  of  perfect 
knowledge,  they  were  synonymous.  Is  not,  then,  the  true 
motive,  that  we  are  all  of  us  so  much  more  cautious  with 
regard  to  actions  and  words,  than  to  thoughts  and  desires, 
simply  this  ? We  know  that  man  can  take  cognizance  of  the 
former,  and  that  human  laws  and  conventional  arrangements 
which  are  violated  will  be  redressed ; while  in  spite  of  our 
disavowal  of  it,  we  do  not  absolutely  realize  the  fact,  that  God 
is  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  latter.  We  can  hardly  conceive, 
in  the  depths  of  our  own  minds,  that  the  carrying  forth  an 
unholy  thought  into  an  unholy  action,  renders  it  not  in  the  least 
degree  more  palpable,  or  better  known  to  God.  This  is  prac- 
tical unbelief,  and  little  short  of  positive  Atheism.  We  say 
that  God  is,  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  knowledge,  and  we  live  as  if  He 
were  absolutely  blind,  and  deaf,  and  ignorant. 

But  again,  as  we  endeavoured  to  derive  comfort  as  well  as 
warning  from  the  consideration  of  the  omnipresence  of  God, 
so  would  we  also  from  His  omniscience.  Perhaps,  practically, 
there  are  few  temptations  more  besetting,  even  to  the  renewed 
Christian,  the  sincere  worshipper  of  God,  than  this,  a secret 
lurking  unbelief  upon  the  subject  of  his  prayers.  In  the  great 
events  of  life,  we  all  go  with  some  degree  of  confidence  to  a 


LECTURE  VI. 


269 


throne  of  grace,  but  how  few  are  there,  who  with  equal  faith 
and  equal  confidence  carry  thither  the  little  events  of  every 
* day,  and  hour,  which  passes  over  them  ? 

But,  brethren,  consider,  could  the  Almighty  make  Elisha 
acquainted  with  every  word  spoken  by  the  King  of  Syria  in 
his  bedchamber,  and  shall  not  God  himself  hear  every  prayer, 
and  number  every  petition  which  ascends  from  yours  ? It 
cannot  be  otherwise  ; believe,  then,  to  your  unspeakable  comfort, 
that  not  the  faintest  sigh,  arising  from  a broken  and  a contrite 
heart,  although  clogged  and  crowded  by  the  millions  of  similar 
aspirations  which  are  perpetually  ascending  from  a sufTering 
world,  but  is  still  known  to  God,  with  every  particular  of  the 
wants  and  weaknesses  of  him  who  utters  it,  as  perfectly,  as 
distinctly,  as  if  throughout  the  illimitable  realms  of  space  that  one 
sigh  alone  was  breathed,  that  one  petition  offered.  There  is  a 
little  incident  in  our  Lord’s  life  which  beautifully  illustrates  this. 
When  Jesus  was  upon  his  way  to  one  of  his  many  miracles  of 
mercy,  surrounded  by  the  crowds  who  on  such  occasions 
usually  attended  him,  a certain  poor,  diseased  woman  came 
behind  Him,  and  touched  only  the  hem  of  His  garment,  and 
immediately  was  made  whole  ; yet  at  that  very  moment  hun- 
dreds of  others  also  were  crowding  around  the  Saviour  as  he 
passed  along;  for  St.  Peter  said,  “ Master,  the  multitude  press 
thee  and  throng  thee,  and  sayest  thou.  Who  touched  me  ?” 
How  perfect  must  have  been  the  knowledge  which  could  discri- 
minate that  single  touch  of  faith  ! How  perfect  the  power,  as 
well  as  the  love,  by  which  its  unuttered  prayer  was  known  and 
answered  ! Who  shall  doubt,  then,  that  the  same  wonderful 
attribute  is,  at  the  present  hour,  exercised  with  regard  to  the 
feeblest  petition  which  faith  can  offer,  to  the  faintest  aspiration 
which  confiding  love  can  breathe.  Surely  not  one,  but  shall, 
through  the  merits  of  our  ever  blessed  Intercessor,  ascend  to  the 
abode,  and  enter  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 

The  king  of  Syria,  finding  that  all  his  plans  were  frustrated 
by  the  supernatural  intelligence  of  Elisha,  resolved  upon 
suspending  his  attack  against  the  king  of  Israel  and  turning  his 

23^ 


270 


ELISHA. 


arms  entirely  against  the  prophet.  “ And  he  said,  Go  and  spy 
where  he  is,  that  I may  send  and  fetch  him.  And  it  was 
told  him,  saying,  Behold,  he  is  in  Dothan.  .Therefore  sent  ^ 

he  thither  horses,  and  chariots,  and  a great  host : and  they  came 
by  night,  and  compassed  the  city  about.  And  when  the  servant 
of  the  man  of  God  was  risen  early,  and  gone  forth,  behold,  an 
host  compassed  the  city,  both  with  horses  and  chariots.” 
Panic-stricken  at  the  appalling  sight,  the  terrified  servant 
hastened  back  to  his  master  and  said  unto  him,  “ Alas,  my 
master ! how  shall  we  do  ?”  Gehazi  had,  as  you  will  remember, 
been  lately  dismissed  in  disgrace,  and  the  prophet’s  present 
servant  had  filled  the  office  but  a short  time ; he  could  not, 
therefore,  have  been  expected  to  be  very  well  acquainted  with 
tiie  wonder-working  powers  of  him  he  had  served,  and  this 
will  readily  account  for  his  easily  awakened  fears,  and  his 
deeply  desponding  inquiry,  “ What  shall  we  do  ?”  Brethren,  we 
can  make  every  allowance  for  the  fear  of  the  new  servant,  but 
it  would  have  been  dishonourable  to  himself,  and  disparaging 
to  his  master,  if  the  same  despondency  had  been  manifested, 
the  same  want  of  confidence  evinced,  after  years  of  servitude 
had  been  passed  beneath  the  prophet’s  roof,  and  multitudes  of 
miracles  had  been  witnessed  there.  What  shall  we  say,  then, 
of  ourselves  ? And  I speak  now  to  such  of  you  as  have  not 
newly  been  numbered  among  the  servants  of  God  ; you  who 
have  often  received  comfort  within  His  house,  and  long  lived 
happily  in  His  service,  and  found  his  yoke  easy  and  His  burden 
light,  and  are  ready  cheerfully  to  acknowledge  that  He  is  a 
good,  and  kind,  and  merciful  master,  and  who  do  not  and  cannot 
deny  the  many  miracles  of  which  you  have  been  the  daily 
witnesses,  for  surely  goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  you 
all  the  days  of  your  life  ; and  yet  the  moment  that  unexpected 
difficulties  assail,  or  unthought  of  dangers  threaten  you,  how 
often  has  your  “ soul  been  melted  because  of  the  trouble,”  and 
you  are  “ at  your  wits’  end.”  Is  it  not  too  true,  that  even 
among  sincere  Christians  we  frequently  witness  this  evidence 
of  faithlessness,  this  unworthy  distrustfulness  of  God ; as  if 


LECTURE  VI. 


271 


tliey  had  never  been  in  trouble  before,  or  being  so,  had  never 
been  relieved.  It  seems  as  if  there  were  almost  a stunning 
effect  produced  upon  the  mind  by  great  and  sudden  calamities, 
which  for  the  moment  appears  to  deprive  faith  of  its  ascendency, 
and  even  prayer  of  its  power.  Wave  after  wave  passes  over 
us,  and  each  seems  more  likely  than  the  former,  to  wash  us 
from  our  resting-place,  and  to  carry  us  out  into  the  dark  and 
dreary  ocean  of  despair.  It  is  not  till  time  for  recollected  ness 
is  given,  time  to  call  to  mind  those  “ exceeding  great  and  pre- 
cious promises,”  the  true  sustenance  of  the  Christian,  that  our 
faith  can  regain  her  firm  and  steady  anchorage  upon  the  Rock 
of  Ages. 

And  Elisha  answered  his  servant,  “ Fear  not ; for  they  that 
be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with  them.”  It  was  in 
vain  to  tell  him  this,  the  young  man  looked  around,  and  saw 
visibly  enough,  the  chariots  and  horsemen  of  Syria,  which  were 
sent  to  capture  them,  but  he  saw  no  defenders  ; Elisha  and  he 
apparently  stood  helpless  and  alone  ; and  what  were  they  against 
so  many  ? It  is  useless  to  assure  the  man  whose  eyes  are 
closed  to  the  great  and  wonderful  things  which  even  here  God 
has  prepared  for  those  who  love  Him,  that  “ as  his  day,  so 
shall  his  strength  be ;”  but  once  let  him  behold  them  with  the 
eye  of  a true  and  living  faith,  and  every  fear  shall  vanish : he 
sees  a hand  the  world  can  never  see,  he  hears  a voice  they  can- 
not hear. 

“ And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I pray  thee,  open  his 
eyes,  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
young  man : and  he  saw,  and,  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of 
horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha.”  Yes,  brethren, 
prayer  will  succeed,  where  reasoning  fails.  When  the  prophet 
had  prayed,  “ open  his  eyes,”  when  the  Lord  had  answered, 
and  the  young  man’s  eyes  were  opened,  then  his  defenders 
were  made  visible  to  him,  and  he  who  found  himself  at  once 
surrounded  by  the  hosts  of  heaven,  no  longer  feared  the  horses 
and  chariots  of  Syria.  Then  he  knew  with  a knowledge  which 
nothing  could  invalidate,  that  the  prophet  spake  but  the  truth, 


272 


ELISHA. 


when  he  said,  “ They  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that 
be  with  them.”  How  difficult  is  it,  without  a vision,  absolutely 
to  realize  a promise.  “ Blessed  are  they  who  have  not  seen, 
and  yet  have  believed.”  It  was  just  as  certain,  just  as  true, 
that  the  hills  round  about  the  city,  were  occupied  by  chariots 
and  horses  of  fire,  before  the  young  man  saw  them,  as  when 
his  eyes  were  open  and  all  were  visible.  And  so  are  the  Chris- 
tian’s consolations,  and  the  Christian’s  safeguards,  equally  real, 
equally  certain,  at  the  time  when  the  eye  of  faith  is  dullest,  and 
her  apprehensions  the  most  clouded,  as  when  we  are  living  in 
the  brightest  sunshine,  and  enjoying  the  clearest  vision.  Our 
sight  of  them  may  and  often  will  vary,  but  their  existence,  and 
oiir  possession  of  them,  blessed  be  God,  never  varies. 

Endeavour  to  establish  this  truth,  brethren,  distinctly  and 
firmly  in  your  hearts,  you  will  find  it  a remedy  for  many  an 
hour  of  nature’s  keenest  anxieties,  and  most  desponding  doubts. 

When  you  feel  your  temptations  crowding  upon  yon,  with 
so  resistless  a pressure,  that  you  are  almost  led  to  fear  that  you 
never  possessed  an  interest  in  the  great  and  blessed  promises 
which  you  have  received  ; when  your  heart,  like  Israel’s  of  old, 
is  much  “ discouraged  because  of  the  way,”  and  with  David 
you  are  ready  to  exclaim,  “ I shall  one  day  perish  by  the  hand 
of  Saul,”  then  turn  in  peace  to  the  thousand  declarations  of  your 
Redeemer,  which  establish  this  most  blessed  truth,  that  though 
you  see  them  not,  the  chariots  and  horses  of  heaven  are  there ; 
that  “ the  angel  of  the  covenant,”  even  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
himself,  “encampeth  around”  you,  and  “ fear  not.”  Sin,  Satan, 
the  world,  may  have  their  slaves,  their  votaries,  their  hosts,  all 
arrayed  powerfully  against  you,  but  they  that  be  with  you  are, 
after  all,  more  than  they  that  be  with  them  ; you  have  the  felt 
presence  of  God  the  Father,  the  abiding  consolations  of  God  the 
Son,  the  uninterrupted  fellowship  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost;  the 
spiritual  communion  with  “ the  church  of  the  first-born,  whose 
names  are  written  in  heaven.”  “ When  the  enemy  comes  in 
like  a flood,”  it  is  thus  that  “ the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift 
up  a standard  against  him.” 


LECTURE  VI. 


273 


Elisha  having,  as  we  have  seen,  encouraged  the  sinking  heart 
of  his  servant,  remained  calmly  in  Dothan,  awaiting  the  approach 
of  his  implacable  enemies.  At  length,  encompassing  the  city, 
so  that  he  could  neither  break  through  nor  escape,  they  drew 
their  circle  nearer  and  nearer,  until  having  entirely  enclosed  him 
within  their  toils,  they  came  down  upon  him  as  their  certain 
and  unresisting  prey.  And  now  again  was  seen  the  mighty 
achievement  of  “ the  effectual,  fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous 
man,  which  availeth  much.”  A single  heartfelt  ejaculation,  a 
single  earnest  petition,  and  all  the  machinations  of  his  foes 
were  frustrated,  all  their  opposition  fruitless.  “ Elisha  prayed 
unto  the  Lord,  and  said.  Smite  this  people,  I pray  thee,  with 
blindness.  And  he  smote  them  with  blindness,  according  to 
the  word  of  Elisha.  And  Elisha  said  unto  them.  This  is  not 
the  way,”  i.  e.  to  find  the  prophet,  “ neither  is  this  the  city,” 
in  which  you  shall  see  him.  “ Follow  me,  and  I will  bring 
you  to  the  man  whom  ye  seek.  And  he  led  them  to  Samaria,” 
the  capital  of  Israel,  about  twelve  miles  distant.  “ And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  they  were  come  into  Samaria,”  even  into  the 
crowded  streets  of  that  populous  city,  that  Elisha  said,  “ Lord, 
open  the  eyes  of  these  men,  that  they  may  see.  And  the  Lord 
opened  their  eyes,  and  they  saw ; and,  behold,  they  were  in 
the  midst  of  Samaria.”  ^ Who  can  picture  their  astonishment 
and  dismay  ? In  the  heart  of  a hostile  city,  surrounded  by 
their  deadliest  foes,  who  only  waited  the  signal  to  immolate 
them  at  once  to  their  fury  ; whichever  way  they  turned,  nothing 
was  to  be  seen  but  enemies,  nothing  to  be  looked  for  but  de- 
struction and  death.  With  what  a remarkable  contrast  does 
the  answer  to  the  two  prayers  of  the  prophet  for  precisely 
similar  blessings,  here  present  us.  Elisha  prayed  that  his 
servant’s  eyes  might  be  opened,  and  no  sooner  was  the  blessing 
granted,  than  every  sight  which  surrounded  him  was  full  of 
encouragement  and  consolation.  He  prayed  again  that  his 
enemies*  eyes  might  be  opened,  and  who  can  recount  the 
terror  and  dismay  which  followed  the  accomplishment  of  that 
petition.  We  have  seen  the  blessedness  of  the  people  of  God, 


274 


ELISHA. 


as  manifested  in  the  Christian’s  experience,  when  the  eye  of 
faith  is  opened  to  its  privileges  and  its  rewards.  NoWv  let  us 
turn  our  thoughts  to  the  enemies  of  God,  to  tliose  who,  like  the 
Syrians,  are  yet  walking  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death, 
and  mark  the  contrast,  when  tlieir  eyes  shall  be  opened. 

Are  there  none,  brethren,  dwelling  around  us  in  the  world, 
none,  perhaps,  even  among  ourselves,  of  whom  we  have  reason 
to  fear  that  “ the  god  of  this  world”  hath  blinded  their  eyes  to 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  danger  in  which  they  stand? 
none  who  are  in  the  midst  of  enemies  and  know  it  not  ? Can 
we  for  a moment  doubt  it  ? can  we  for  a moment  question  it  ? 
Alas  ! is  it  not  too  easily  demonstrated  by  the  testimony  of  the 
written  Word  of  God  ? 

Let  me  apply  myself  particularly  to  you,  if  such  there  be, 
who  are  living  a life  of  thoughtlessness  upon  this  high  subject ; 
the  consideration,  perhaps,  never  crossing  your  mind,  that  there 
are  unseen  realities  above  you,  unseen  perils  around  you,  the 
very  sight  of  which  will  one  day  make  the  boldest  quail,  and 
the  strongest  tremble  ; yet  to  these  things  your  hearts  are  closed. 
For  instance,  the  eternal  God  has  said,  “ He  that  believeth  not 
is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the  name 
of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God.”^ 

You  believe  not;  i.  e.,  you  are  not  trusting  with  a simple, 
justifying  faith,  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  making  His 
atoning  sacrifice  your  only  hope,  His  righteousness  your  only 
plea,  and  His  will  your  only  law.  Yet  you  do  not  see  that 
you  “ are  condemned  already.”  No;  you  would  consider  it 
the  very  height  of  uncharitableness,  if  you  were  individually 
told  it.  And  whence  is  this  ? Simply  because  your  eyes 
are  not  opened.  Like  the  Syrians,  of  whom  we  have  read, 
you  do  not  perceive  either  where  you  are,  or  whither  you  are 
going.  Like  them,  you  are  walking  cheerfully  and  thought- 
lessly upon  your  journey,  without  a single  misgiving  as  to 
that  journey’s  end.  And  yet  it  is  equally  certain  with  you,  as 
with  them,  that  the  path  you  are  treading  must,  if  persevered 
ill,  lead  down  to  death. 


* T >U. 


LECTURi:  VI. 


275 


Again,  the  same  God  who  cannot  lie,  has  said,  “ She  that 
liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth.”  Do  I address 
none  who  live  in  pleasure,  no  one  whose  life,  and  thoughts,  and 
time,  are  chiefly  occupied  in  self-gratification,  self-pleasing  ? 
And  do  you  not  see  that,  according  to  the  scriptural  meaning 
of  the  term,  you  are  dead  ? i.  e.,  dead,  while  in  your  j resent 
state,  to  the  promises  and  hopes  of  the  Gospel,  dead  to  the 
brightest  reversions  of  eternity  ? No,  not  an  individual  to 
whom  I speak,  has  the  slightest  belief  in  such  a fact ; though 
day  and  night  be  given  to  pleasure,  though  your  whole  heart 
be  in  the  world,  and  no  single  power  of  the  mind,  or  affection 
of  the  soul,  be  fully  devoted  to  God,  you  deny  the  impeachment, 
and  believe  at  this  moment,  as  firmly  as  you  ever  did,  that  all 
this  is  quite  compatible  with  be'mg  a Christian  here,  and  a 
glorified  spirit  hereafter.  Yes,  though  God  himself  has  said, 
that  it  shall  not,  and  it  cannot  be.  And  why,  again,  is  this  ? 
Simply  because  your  eyes  are  not  opened.  It  is  the  unques- 
tionable fact ; no  man  who  reads  his  Bible,  and  believes  his 
God,  can  deny  it ; but  you  see  it  not,  and  know  it  not. 

Brethren,  God  knows  that  it  is  deeply  painful  to  me  to  state 
these  humiliating  truths  ; that  I should  infinitely  rather  say  to 
you  all,  and  think  of  you  all,  that  your  eyes  are  clearly  open, 
and  that  you  are  so  living  in  the  fear,  and  love,  and  service  of 
your  God,  that  no  doubt  shall  agonize  your  dying  bed,  no 
despair  sadden  the  eternity  that  shall  follow.  But  I dare  not 
do  so.  There  are  many  among  you  whom  I shall  probably 
never  address  again ; and  shall  we  part  with  the  language  of 
flattery  and  deceit  ? Shall  I hesitate  to  declare,  or  you  to  hear 
the  whole  truth,  because  it  is  a painful  truth  ? God  forbid  ! 
He  has  commanded  us  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth, 
giving  to  each  his  portion  in  due  season ; and  yours  cannot, 
while  you  are  living  thus,  be  the  portion  of  consolation  and 
peace.  If,  by  God’s  grace,  we  could  only  reveal  to  you  your 
own  stale ; only  make  you  conscious  of  your  mental  darkness  ; 
only  ensble  you  to  feel  that  you  are  blind,  most  assuredly  you 
would  not  one  of  you  leave  this  house  to-day,  without  the 


276 


ELISHA. 


earnest  heart-felt  prayer,  Lord,  that  my  eyes  may  be  opened, 
that  I may  behold  the  utter  emptiness  of  these  things  to  which 
I am  devoting  so  large  a portion  of  my  thoughts,  my  time,  my 
affections  ; that  I may  awake  before  it  be  too  late,  and  turn  with 
a whole  heart  to  the  Saviour  and  his  salvation.  For,  listen  to 
these  most  solemn  words  of  inspiration,  which  man  can  neither 
alter,  nor  soften,  nor  evade,  “ If  our  Gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to 
them  that  are  Tost.”  What  a word, — “ to  them  that  are  lost 
and  if  lost  here,  never  to  be  found  at  God’s  right  hand  through- 
out eternity.  But  mark  the  continuation  of  the  text,  and  see 
to  whom  it  refers.  In  whom  the  god  of  this  world  hath 
blinded  the  eyes  of  them  that  believe  not,  lest  the  light  of  the 
glorious  Gospel  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God,  should 
shine  unto  them.”  Lost,  because  they  have  suffered  the  god 
of  this  world  to  blind  their  eyes.  Have  we  not  then  reason  to 
call  upon  you,  until  the  sound  ring  in  your  ears  night  and  day, 
banishing  all  rest,  all  peace,  all  satisfaction  from  your  present 
lot,  and  until  this  command  has  been  obeyed,  this  promise 
realized,  “ Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  tlie  dead, 
and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light.” 

But,  brethren,  there  is  yet  one  consideration  connected  with 
this  subject,  which  must  not  be  suppressed.  That,  blind  as 
we  may  some  of  us  be  at  the  present  moment,  the  time  ap- 
proaches when  every  eye  shall  be  open  to  our  real  state,  and 
we  shall  all  see,  clearly,  distinctly,  and  for  ever.  We  thought 
the  situation  of  the  Syrian  host  a fearful  one,  when  their  judicial 
blindness  was  for  the  first  time  removed,  in  the  midst  of  an 
enemy’s  city,  surrounded  by  foes  ready  to  destroy  them. 

But  what  was  that  compared  with  the  first  glimpses  of  return- 
ing vision,  upon  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  to  t*he  unsaved 
sinner  ? Before  his  eyes  “ the  great  white  throne”  of  the  de- 
scending Judge,  and  Him  that  shall  sit  on  it,  from  whose  face 
the  earth  and  the  heavens  shall  flee  away.  Round  about  the 
throne,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  and  thousands  of  thou- 
sands “ of  the  angelic  host ; and  before  the  throne,  all  nations 
gathered  together ; the  dead,  small  and  great,  standing  before 


LECTURE  VI. 


277 


God.”  There  shall  be  no  blindness  then ; no  mental  darkness 
shall  outlive  that  hour,  for  the  Word  of  God  has  declared, 
“ every  eye  shall  see  him.”  Who  can  describe  the  misery  of 
seeing  Him  for  the  first  time  as  a Judge,  whom  we  have  never 
seen  as  a Saviour  and  a Friend?  How  peculiarly  solemn  is 
the  thought,  that  this  congregation,  promiscuously  brought 
together  as  it  has  been,  during  the  present  season,  and  contain- 
ing, as  all  such  assemblages  must,  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  the 
righteous  and  the  sinner,  him  that  feareth  God  and  him  that 
feareth  him  not,  shall,  in  all  human  probability,  may  we  not 
say  with  all  certainty,  never  re-assemble  until  that  hour ; that 
we,  brethren,  shall  not  meet  again  until  our  “ eyes  are  opened 
and  until  we  awake  to  judgment,  at  the  trump  of  the  archangel. 

My  beloved  brethren,  may  God  preserve  us  from  the  melan- 
choly fate  of  that  apostate  prophet,  who  “ heard  the  words  of 
God,  and  knew  the  knowledge  of  the  Most  High,”  and  who  is 
emphatically  called,  “ the  man  whose  eyes  were  opened  :”  and 
yet  who,  speaking  of  the  “ Star  out  of  Jacob,”  and  “ the  Holy 
One  of  Israel,”  left  this  his  melancholy  testimony,  “ I shall  see 
him,  but  not  now ; I shall  behold  him,  but  not  nigh.”  Alas  ! 
the  wretchedness  of  seeing  the  Saviour  of  sinners  but  only 
afar  off,  as  the  rich  man  beheld  Abraham,  and  no  hope,  no 
power  of  approaching  within  the  circle  of  his  saving  grace,  of 
his  redeemed  and  glorified  people.  Would  you  behold  Him 
near,  would  you  see  Him  on  that  day  with  holy  joy,  then 
humble  yourselves  before  Him  now,  close  with  his  offers  of 
grace  this  day,  for  they  may  never  be  repeated.  Pray  to  be 
even  now  cleansed  by  His  blood,  sanctified  by  His  spirit,  pre- 
pared for  His  kingdom,  and  united  to  Him  in  an  everlasting 
covenant,  never  to  be  forgotten.  Then  shall  this  be  the  feeling 
of  your  awakened  hearts  on  that  great  day,  “ Lo,  this  is  our 
God,  we  have  waited  for  him,  and  He  will  save  us ; this  is  the 
Lord,  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  his  salvation.”^ 

* This  lecture  forms  the  close  of  the  series  preached  in  London,  on  the 
Wednesday  mornings  during  Lent,  1838. 

24 


278 


ELISHA. 


LECTURE  VII. 

2 Kings  vii.  18.  (part.) 

It  came  to  pass  as  the  man  of  God  had  spoken.’* 

We  resume  the  history  of  the  prophet  Elisha  at  a period  of 
great  public  calamity,  when  the  city  of  Samaria,  in  which  he 
frequently  resided,  was  visited  by  famine  and  the  sword. 

The  Syrians,  who  had  been  taught  by  former  failures,  that 
it  was  vain  to  war  against  the  prophet  of  the  Lord,  and  there- 
fore, as  we  learn  from  the  23d  verse  of  the  chapter  preceding 
that  from  which  the  text  is  taken,  “ came  no  more  into  the  land 
of  Israel”  for  that  purpose,  now  resolved  upon  besieging  the 
capital  itself ; not  knowing,  probably,  that  the  man  they  most 
dreaded  was  within  its  walls,  and  evidently  not  fearing  that  any 
Divine  interposition  should  be  exerted  in  his  behalf. 

For  a time,  all  things  prospered  with  the  enemies  of  the 
liOrd,  and  of  his  people.  Samaria  was  reduced  to  such  extre- 
mity of  famine,  that  as  in  after  ages,  in  Jerusalem  itself,  the 
most  loathsome  food  was  greedily  consumed  ; “ an  ass’s  head 
was  sold  for  fourscore  pieces  of  silver,  and  the  fourth-part  of  a 
cab,  about  a half-a-pint  of  dove’s  dung,”  (which,  according  to 
Shaw,  the  traveller,  is  a kind  of  peas  or  parched  pulse  eaten  by 
the  Jews,)  was  sold  “ for  five  pieces  of  silver while  humanity 
is  unwilling  to  record  the  horrible  enormities  which  necessity 
forced  upon  the  guilty  and  perishing  inhabitants. 

In  this  extremity  of  suffering,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon 
Elisha.  The  king  himself,  whose  better  judgment  was  over- 
thrown for  the  moment  by  the  horrors  around  him,  and  who 
in  the  intensity  of  his  anguish  had  vowed  the  prophet’s  death, 
comes  in  person  to  revoke  the  sentence,  and  stands  as  a humble 
suppliant  at  Elisha’s  door. 

Then  Elisha  said,  “ Hear  ye  the  word  of  the  Lord  ; thus 
saith  the  Lord,  to-morrow,  about  this  time,  shall  a measure  of 
fine  flower  be  sold  for  a shekel,  and  two  measures  of  barley  for 
a shekel,  in  the  gate  of  Samaria.” 


LECTURE  VII. 


279 


To-morrow,  no  further  oifT  than  to-morrow,  the  wheat  and 
barley  now  absolutely  unknown  within  the  city,  shall  be  sold 
“ in  the  gate,”*  at  the  prices  for  which  they  were  usually  pur- 
chased. 

How  extremely  improbable  ! yet  mark,  how  confidently  does 
this  man  of  God  rely  upon  its  fulfilment. 

It  is  enough  for  Elisha,  that,  “ Thus  saith  the  Lord  he 
was  probably  as  utterly  ignorant  of  the  manner  in  which  so 
remarkable  a saying  should  be  fulfilled,  as  the  most  uninformed 
of  those  around  him,  and  yet  he  is  as  perfectly  certain  that  it 
should  come  to  pass,  as  if  he  had  seen  the  heavens  opened,  and 
the  golden  showers  of  plenty  descend  from  the  everlasting 
garners.  And  such  in  every  age  is  not  merely  the  duty,  but 
the  high  and  holy  privilege  of  the  people  of  God,  if  we  may  so 
speak,  to  take  God  instantly  at  His  word  ; “ Hath  He  said, 
and  shall  He  not  do  it  ? or  hath  He  spoken,  and  shall  it  not 
come  to  pass  ? that  be  far  from  thee,  O Lord,  that  be  far  from 
thee.”  Brethren,  a true  Christian  would  rather  have  “ It  may 
be”  from  God,  than  “ It  shall  be”  from  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth. 

Not  such,  however,  was  the  holy  confidence  of  those  around 
the  prophet ; the  king,  perhaps,  who  had  beheld  so  many 
proofs  of  Elisha’s  knowledge  and  of  his  Master’s  power,  might 
have  no  doubt ; but  there  was  one  unhappy  man,  who  boldly 
questioned  even  the  possibility  of  the  relief  which  Elisha  thus 
confidently  promised,  and  ventured  sneeringly  to  express  his 
contempt  of  the  prediction  in  the  most  insulting  inquiry.  For 
the  inspired  historian  relates,  “ then  a lord,  on  whose  hand  the 
king  leaned,  answered  the  man  of  God,  and  said,  Behold,  if  the 
Lord  would  make  windows  in  heaven,  might  this  thing  be  ?” 
Do  you  think  that  it  would  be  possible  then  ? And  Elisha 
said,  “ Behold,  thou  shalt  see  it  with  thine  eyes,  but  shalt  not 
eat  thereof.”  Thou  shalt  live  to  be  convinced  of  the  folly  of 
thy  scoff,  but  shalt  never  profit  by  the  conviction. 

Would  that  men  would  learn  by  the  experience  of  others; 

* The  accustomed  market-place. 


280 


ELISHA. 


but  alas  ! of  this  there  is  small  hope,  since  so  many  do  not 
seek  to  benefit,  even  by  their  own.  Else  should  we  say, 
brethren,  are  there  any  of  you  here  present  who  have  often 
listened,  it  may  be  attentively,  but  perhaps  incredulously,  or  at 
least  ineffectually,  to  the  declarations  of  God,  as  revealed  to  us 
by  his  Son,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ; who  have 
often  heard  the  ministers  of  God  declare  those  “ exceeding 
great  and  precious  promises,”  that  “ the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanses  from  all  sin,”  that  “ whosoever  will,  may  take  of  the 
waters  of  life  freely ;”  that  the  heavenward  path  is  open,  the 
offers  of  eternal  life  fully  and  freely  dispensed,  and  that  all  who 
hear,  may  live ; that  great  as  may  be  your  present  difficulties, 
the  present  barrenness  and  dearth  of  the  soul,  there  is  bread 
enough  and  to  spare  in  your  Father’s  house,  grace  sufficient, 
and  more  than  sufficient,  to  supply  every  need  and  every 
necessity  of  the  most  destitute  of  God’s  creatures,  and  yet  you 
believe  not  these  abundant  promises  ? Yes,  brethren,  we  fear 
we  must  say  distinctly,  that  you  believe  not,  for  we  are  address- 
ing those  among  you  who  do  not  accept  them,  who  do  not 
realize  them  in  their  own  experience,  who  do  not  live  by  them 
and  upon  them,  as  they  could  not  refrain  from  doing,  if  they 
absolutely  and  entirely  believed  them.  No  man  ever  yet  be- 
lieved that  he  was  heir  to  a large  inheritance,  to  be  granted  to 
his  petition,  and  yet  abstained  from  making  a single  request. 
No  starving  wretch  ever  yet  believed  that  there  was  bread 
within  his  reach,  to  be  given  to  his  application,  and  yet  never 
stretched  out  one  beseeching  hand,  or  offered  one  entreating 
prayer.  Surely,  then,  you  cannot  but  confess  that,  in  reality, 
you  believe  not  these  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises, 
for  which  you  never  plead.  Then,  alas ! to  5^11  they  will  be 
as  if  they  had  never  been  ; as  if  they  had  never  possessed  any 
real  and  tangible  existence. — No  ! the  paralled  before  us  is 
nearer,  and  more  exact  than  this ; “ Behold,  thou  shalt  see 
them  with  thine  eyes,  but  thou  shalt  not  eat  thereof.” 

The  promises  shall  be  fulfilled,  whether  you  believe  or  dis- 
believe them,  whether  you  receive  or  reject  them  ; but  alas  ! if 


LECTURE  VII. 


281 


you  continue  in  your  present  state,  you  can  only  expect  to  wit- 
ness, but  never  to  participate  their  fulfilment.  Or,  in  the  deeply 
affecting  language  of  Holy  Writ,  the  days  shall  come,  “ when 
ye  shall  see  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  all  the  pro- 
phets in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out.”^ 

For  listen  only  to  the  conclusion  of  the  history  before  us, 
and  you  will  learn,  that  although  God  is,  and  ever  has  been, 
and  ever  shall  be,  love,  yea  love  itself,  to  every  soul  that  seeketh 
Him  and  trusteth  in  Him,  “ Our  God  is  a consuming  fire,”  to 
every  individual  who  rejects  His  promises,  and  contemns  the 
offers  of  His  word. 

It  was  in  the  night,  the  very  night  which  succeeded  the  day 
upon  which  the  prediction  of  Elisha  was  uttered,  that  the  Al- 
mighty prepared  its  fulfilment,  for,  as  the  inspired  historian 
relates,  “ The  Lord  made  the  host  of  the  Syrians,”  which  lay 
encamped  before  the  famishing  city,  “ to  hear  a noise  of  chariots, 
' and  a noise  of  horses,  even  a noise  of  a great  host,  and  they 
said  one  to  another,  Lo,  the  king  of  Israel  hath  hired  against 
us  the  king  of  the  Hittites,  and  the  kings  of  the  Egyptians, 
to  come  upon  us.  Wherefore,  they  arose  and  fled  in  the  twi- 
light, and  left  their  tents  and  their  asses,  even  the  camp  as  it 
was,  and  fled  for  their  life.” 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  these  lectures  to  enter  minutely 
into  the  singular  and  providential  accident  by  which  this  deser- 
tion was  discovered  ; my  chief  object  throughout  them  is,  to 
induce  you  carefully  to  search  the  Word  of  God  for  yourselves, 
while  I can  do  little  more  than  glance  at  it. 

It  is  sufficient,  therefore,  for  our  present  purpose  to  record, 
that  intelligence  having  been  brought  to  the  king,  that  the 
Syrians  had  fled,  he  immediately  despatched  messengers  to 
ascertain  its  truth.  “ And  they  went  after  them  unto  Jordan  ; 
and  lo,  all  the  way  was  full  of  garments  and  vessels  which  the 
Syrians  had  cast  away  in  their  haste ; and  the  messengers 
returned  and  told  the  king.  And  the  people  went  out  and 
* Luke  xiii.  28. 

24* 


282 


ELISHA. 


spoiled  the  tents  of  the  Syrians.  So  a measure  of  fine  flour,” 
adds  the  historian,  “ was  sold  for  a shekel,  and  two  measures 
of  barley  for  a shekel,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord 
and  thus,  as  our  text  declares,  “ It  came  to  pass  as  the  man  of 
God  had  spoken.”  Most  certainly  it  did,  and  who  that  knows 
any  thing  of  the  power  and  faithfulness  of  our  God,  could  for 
a moment  doubt  it.  A sudden  panic  in  the  enemy’s  army,  a 
sudden  flight  when  no  man  pursued,  and  all  th^  voluptuous 
plenty  of  an  Eastern  camp  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  famished 
Israelites.  How  easy  are  man’s  impossibilities  with  God. 

May  we  not  then  truly  ask.  If  God  so  feed  the  natural  man, 
who  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  grave,  shall  he  not 
much  rather  feed  you,  the  spiritual  children  of  his  love,  who 
are  to  live  for  ever  ? 

Repose  in  simple  trust  upon  the  declarations  of  our  heavenly 
Father ; believe  that  He  who  hath  provided  an  all-sufficient 
Saviour,  and  an  all-inviting  heaven,  hath  not  provided  them  in 
vain.  The  promise  shall  be  sure  to  all  the  seed  ; He  who  hath 
given  us  His  Son,  shall  with  Him  also,  freely  give  us  all  things. 
All  things  needful  to  the  fulfilment  of  Christ’s  purchase,  the  com- 
pletion of  God’s  covenant,  and  the  salvation  of  each  individual 
soul,  that  is  led  to  cast  itself  unreservedly  upon  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Therefore,  let  the  most  timid  believer,  provided  he  be  a believer, 
one  who  for  the  sake  of  Christ  is  willing  to  renounce  sin,  to 
follow  after  holiness,  and  to  rely  simply  upon  the  Saviour  as 
his  all  in  all,  thank  God  and  take  courage.  Though  your 
enemies  be  mighty.  He  who  supports  and  strengthens  you  is 
almighty  ; though  your  trials  bodily,  mentally,  or  spiritually, 
be  great,  God’s  grace  is  infinitely  greater  ; though  the  comple- 
tion of  God’s  promises  to  you  appears  almost  impossible,  when 
you  consider  your  own  absolute  unworthiness,  your  utter 
sinfulness  and  helplessness ; yet,  when  you  consider  God’s 
faithfulness  and  truth,  the  Saviour’s  infinite  merits,  the  Holy 
Spirit’s  abounding  grace  and  consolations,  you  cannot  but  take 
courage,  and  remember,  that  the  same  voice  which  said,  “ I 


LECTURE  VII. 


283 


give  unto  them  eternal  life,”  added  in  the  self-same  sentence, 
“ and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them 
out  of  my  hand.” 

We  may  not,  however,  suffer  ourselves,  while  dwelling  thus 
upon  the  certainty  of  the  encouraging  promises  of  our  God, 
so  engaging  and  lovely  a theme,  to  be  led  too  far  away  from  the 
narrative  we  are  considering.  Doubtless  there  are  some  among 
you  who  would  desire  to  hear  the  conclusion  of  that  man’s 
story,  upon  whose  infidelity  and  scorn,  we  have  already  com- 
mented ; some  who  would  desire  to  know  what  became  of  the 
unbelieving  lord. 

Continuing  the  history,  therefore,  at  the  17th  verse,  we  read, 
“ And  the  king  appointed  the  lord  on  whose  hand  he  leaned  to 
have  the  charge  of  the  gate.”  No  doubt,  highly  gratifying  to 
his  ambition  and  self-importance,  was  so  distinguished  an  hon- 
our. But,  now  mark  the  all-present  providence  of  God,  and 
observe  how  it  directs  and  overrules  every,  the  minutest  incident 
of  our  lives. 

If  we  had  been  asked,  how  it  would  be  possible  most 
effectually  to  traverse  the  designs  of  the  Almighty  respecting 
this  unbeliever,  and  to  counteract  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy, 
we  should,  perhaps,  have  selected  the  very  means  for  its  over- 
throw, which  God  appointed  for  its  fulfilment.  We  should 
have  said,  “ Place  the  unbeliever  at  the  gate,  his  rank  and  office 
will  secure  respect,  and  he  shall  not  only  see,  but  he  shall 
partake  of  the  very  first  load  of  provisions  which  arrives.” 
The  Almighty  also  says,  “ Place  him  at  the  gate  where  he  shall 
see  the  plenty  in  which  he  disbelieved,  but  no  grain  of  which 
shall  ever  pass  his  lips.”  And  thus  it  happened  ; for  as  the 
famishing  multitude  pressed  forward  in  one  dense  mass  out  of 
the  perishing  city,  to  avail  themselves  of  the  cheap  and  unex- 
pected market,  which  the  mercy  of  God  has  opened  for  them, 
the  people  trampled  the  unbeliever  to  death  beneath  their  feet ; 
“ and,”  continues  the  historian,  “ so  it  fell  out  unto  him,”  as  the 
man  of  God  had  said,  “ Behold,  thou  shalt  see  it  with  thine  eyes, 


284 


ELISHA. 


but  slialt  not  eat  thereof,”  “ for  the  people  trode  upon  him  in 
the  gate,  and  he  died.” 

“ So  it  fell  out  unto  him.”  Yes,  brethren,  be  ye  well  assured 
that  so  it  always  falls  out ; even  as  God  has  said.  There  is  no 
doubt,  no  chance,  no  probability  in  any  thing  which  God  has  once 
uttered ; though  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  one  jot,  or  one  tittle 
of  His  word  shall  in  no  wise  pass  awa}’',  till  all  be  fulfilled. 

It  is  a very  solemn  reflection  for  the  man  whoinakes  light 
of  the  denunciations  of  God,  and  for  him  who  overlooks  of 
despises  them,  that  every  threatening  which  has  once  passed 
the  lips  of  the  Almighty,  is  inscribed  upon  the  same  imperish- 
able tablets,  on  which  are  engraven  His  mercy  and  His  love. 
One  cannot  be  fulfilled  if  the  other  be  falsified.  Yet  no  indi- 
vidual doubts  the  eternal  happiness  of  God’s  people.  How 
certain,  then,  must  be  the  infliction  of  the  woes  which  God  has 
pronounced  against  the  impenitent  sinner  ! They  are  expressed 
precisely  in  the  same  terms ; if  the  joys  of  heaven  be  certain 
and  eternal,  then  are  the  pains  of  hell  equally  certain  and  eter- 
nal : if  the  happiness  of  the  righteous  be  sure,  then  also  is  the 
fate  of  the  unrighteous  irrevocable.  “ The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die !”  “ He  that  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned.”  “ The 
wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the  people  that  forget 
God.’" 

Dear  brethren,  are  any  of  you  living  in  the  daily  forgetful- 
ness of  God  ; we  will  not  say  in  any  open  sin,  or  profaneness, 
but  simply  in  the  forgetfulness  of  God,  your  ^wn  ease,  your 
own  pleasure,  your  own  business  occupying  your  time,  your 
thoughts,  your  hearts.  Give  me  your  serious  attention  for  a 
few  moments,  while  I endeavour  to  set  before  you  the  imminent 
peril  in  which  you  stand.  We  love  not  to  dwell  upon  the 
punishment  awaiting  the  ungodly  ; no,  we  would  far  rather 
never  refer  to  it ; we  infinitely  prefer  beseeching  you  by  the 
mercies  of  God.  But  how  can  we  help  applying  such  a warning 
as  this  before  us,  and  how  can  you  refrain  from  reading  in  it 
your  own  sentence,  and  your  own  fate  ? 


LECTURE  VII. 


285 


God  is  neither  mocking  nor  mocked  ; he  does  not  treat  you  as 
foolish  parents  are  apt  to  treat  their  children,  continually  threat- 
ening them  with  punishments  which  they  never  intend  to  inflict. 
What  God  says,  God  invariably  does.  Now  God  has  said, 
respecting  each  of  us,  who  is  living  without  Him  in  the  world ; 
whose  chambers  witness  no  secret  prayer ; no  earnest  searching 
into  His  revealed  and  written  will ; whose  daily  life  evinces  no 
careful  and  consistent  following  of  Him  in  honesty  and  sobriety, 
in  chastity  and  charity,  in  holiness  and  self-denial ; whose  heart, 
when  read  by  His  all-seeing  eye,  is  still  clothed  in  all  its  natural 
guilt  and  darkness  and  pollution,  upon  which  the  light  of  a 
Saviour’s  love  has  never  dawned,  and  into  which  no  humbling, 
abasing  thoughts  of  self,  and  no  grateful,  confiding  thoughts  of 
Christ,  have  ever  entered,  God  has  said  of  all  such  individually 
that  living  thus  and  dying  thus,  they  can  never  see  his  face  in 
righteousness,  they  can  never  enter  into  His  eternal  rest. 

Surely  you  do  not  doubt  it  ? Yes,  you  think  that  God  is  too 
merciful  to  accomplish  His  threatenings,  too  tender-hearted  to 
inflict  the  punishment  he  has  denounced  ; so  thought  the  people 
in  the  days  of  Noah  ; so  thought  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom  ; so 
thought  the  dwellers  in  Jerusalem  ; so  thought  the  unbelieving 
lord  ; and  yet  in  every  case  it  came  to  pass,  fully,  literally  and 
entirely  ; as  God  had  spoken,  “so  it  fell  out.”  And  be  assured, 
so  it  must  fall  out  with  you.  There  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning  with  God.  You  cannot  persevere  in  dis- 
obedience and  unbelief,  and  yet  be  saved  with  an  everlasting 
salvation.  You  cannot  trifle  with  God’s  threatenings,  and  yet 
escape  His  condemnation.  Earnestly,  then,  most  earnestly 
would  I entreat  you,  “ Fly  to  the  stronghold,  ye  prisoners  of 
hope.”  For  so  God  has  Himself  addressed  you,  to  show  that 
though  imprisoned  in  unbelief  there  is  still  “ hope though 
the  unbeliever  is  “condemned  already,”’'^  there  is  yet  a reversal 
of  the  sentence  possible  ; though  now  a prodigal,  and  at  a dis- 
tance, there  is  yet  room  for  him  in  a Father’s  house,  and 
affection  for  him  in  a Father’s  heart.  Again  and  again,  there- 
* See  John  iii.  18. 


286 


ELISHA. 


fore,  we  invite  you  to  know  th€  things  which  belong  to  your 
peace,  before  they  are  hidden  from  your  eyes.  “ The  Spirit 
and  the  Bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say, 
Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whosoever 
wdll,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely.”  For  God  willeth 
not  the  death  of  a sinner,  but  rather,  yea,  infinitely  rather,  that 
he  should  turn  from  his  wickedness  and  live. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

2 Kings  viii.  5. 

“ And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  was  telling  the  king  how  he  had  restored  a 
dead  body  to  life,  that,  behold,  the  woman,  whose  son  he  had  restored 
to  life,  cried  to  the  king  for  her  house  and  for  her  land.” 

In  the  early  part  of  the  history  upon  which  we  are  com- 
menting, we  were  deeply  interested  in  the  story  of  the  wealthy 
Shunammite  ; who  delighting  in  Elisha’s  society,  and  rejoicing 
to  minister  to  his  comfort,  had  built  him  a “ little  chamber,” 
attached  to  the  mansion  in  which  she  dwelt.  The  prophet’s 
gratitude  did  not  evaporate  with  the  acceptable  return  which 
he  was  at  the  time  enabled  to  render  her,  for  her  considerate 
kindness.  Years  had  passed  away,  but  probably  had  only 
cemented  the  more  strongly  the  attachment  of  Elisha  to  this 
Shunammite’s  husband,  her  child  and  herself.  And  now  a 
season  was  arriving  when  he  was  again  to  testify  his  friendship 
for  this  beloved  family,  by  affording  them  an  opportunity  to 
escape  a calamity  in  which  their  country  would  shortly  be 
involved.  The  Lord  was  about  to  bring  a famine  upon  Israel, 
and  He  who  provided  in  the  day  of  general  destruction  a refuge 
for  holy  Noah,  would  not  permit  the  pious  Shunammites  to 
perish  beneath  the  blow  which  overwhelmed  the  ungodly. 

“ 'rhen  spake  Elisha  unto  the  woman  whose  son  he  had 
restored  to  life,  saying.  Arise,  and  go  thou  and  thine  household. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


287 


and  sojourn  wheresoever  thou  canst  sojourn  ; for  the  Lord  hath 
called  for  a famine ; and  it  shall  also  come  upon  the  land  seven 
years.”  She  had,  it  appears,  learnt  by  this  time,  entirely  to 
trust  the  prophet’s  word.  We  do  not  now  find  her  replying-, 
as  on  the  former  occasion,  “ Nay,  my  lord,  thou  man  of  God, 
do  not  lie  unto  thy  handmaid she  requires  nothing  beyond 
the  assertion  of  Elisha,  to  convince  her  of  its  truth  ; and  painful 
and  difficult  as  such  an  effort  must  have  been,  the  absolute 
relinquishment  of  her  property,  her  friends  her  home,  like 
Abraham  of  old,  she  makes  it  immediately  and  unreservedly  at 
the  bidding  of  the  prophet. 

“ And  the  woman  arose,”  continues  the  historian,  “ and  did 
after  the  saying  of  the  man  of  God ; and  she  went  with  her 
household,  and  sojourned  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines  seven 
years.” 

How  astonishing  an  act  of  faith  ; in  the  midst  of  prosperity 
and  plenty,  she  believes  in  the  coming  famine,  and  without  one 
repining  word,  or  one  sceptical  inquiry,  she  betakes  herself  to 
the  appointed  refuge.  What  an  admirable  contrast  does  this 
form  to  the  conduct  of  “ the  unbelieving  lord”  in  the  last 
lecture. 

The  Shunammite  no  sooner  hears,  than  she  believes  ; no 
sooner  believes,  than  she  acts.  How  well  does  it  exemplify 
the  nature  of  that  faith  to  which  we  were  so  lately  inviting  you. 
A principle,  which  as  soon  as  it  is  received,  presses  forward 
into  action;  like  hers  of  whom  we  read  in  Gospel  history, 
whose  new-born  faith  instantly  impelled  her  to  stretch  forth  her 
hand  to  the  hem  of  the  Saviour’s  garment ; or  hers,  who  having 
believed,  was  forgiven  much,  and  loved  much,  and  found  her 
greatest  joy  and  highest  blessedness,  in  doing  “what  she 
could  in  laying  the  costly  offering  of  her  gratitude,  the  first- 
fruits  of  her  faith,  amidst  many  misgivings,  and  many  tears,  at 
her  Redeemer’s  feet. 

But,  brethren,  we  need  not  multiply  examples.  In  all  the 
* See  Mark  xiv.  8. 


288 


ELISHA. 


true  children  of  God,  there  is  the  same  strong  family  likeness  ; 
now  I would  entreat  you  to  inquire,  whether  you  have  reason 
to  believe  that  you  participate  in  this  resemblance  ? We  do 
not  ask,  where  is  your  faith  ? but  where  are  the  fruits  of  your 
faith  ? The  Shunammite  was  told  to  fly,  as  for  her  life,  from  a 
land  doomed  to  suffer  the  punishment  inflicted  by  God.  You 
have  been  told  in  language  as  plain,  and  in  warnings  as  incon- 
trovertible, to  fly  from  the  sinful  practices  of  a world,  whose 
fate  is  as  certain,  whose  sentence  is  as  sure.  The  Shunam- 
mite arose  and  fled,  without  an  hour’s  delay,  a moment’s  ques- 
tion. And  where  are  you  ? Are  you  still  dwelling  in  heart 
and  desires  and  practice,  among  those  of  whom  the  Spirit  of 
God  hath  said,  “ Come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye 
separate?”*  Though  the  soul’s  worst  famine  is  not  only 
threatened,  but  inflicted,  are  you  content  to  sympathize  with 
those,  whose  friendship  to  you,  is  enmity  with  God  ? Alas  ! 
how  many  professing  Christians  thus  make  shipwreck  of  their 
souls.  Is  there  one  here  present  who  is  conscious  of  his  danger 
from  evils  such  as  these,  the  society,  the  friendship,  the  pur- 
suits of  those  who  know  not  God  ? And  does  he  inquire,  what 
is  his  duty  ? We  reply,  imitate  the  example  of  the  Shunam- 
mite, arise  and  fly.  Continue  not  with  one  companion  whose 
ways  are  adverse  to  God’s  will ; in  one  habit  which  is  opposed 
to  God’s  law  ; in  one  observance,  or  pursuit,  which  is  contrary 
to  the  precepts,  or  the  spirit  of  God’s  Gospel.  Nothing  short 
of  this  is  faith ; nothing  short  of  this  can  save  you.  Had  the 
Shunammite  believed  the  prophet  with  the  most  ready  credu- 
lity, but  still,  like  the  sons-in-law  of  Lot,  resolving  not  to  act 
upon  his  warning,  had  remained  in  the  land,  while  the  tempest 
of  God’s  wrath  swept  across  its  surface,  though,  no  doubt,  God 
might  have  saved  her,  as  easily  as  her  flight  could  save  her,  be 
assured  she  would  have  perished  with  those  around  her.  So 
it  will  be  with  every  professing  Christian  whose  faith  is  not 
followed  out  into  holy,  consistent,  persevering  action.  The 


* 2 Cor.  vi.  17. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


289 


faith  which  saves,  is  the  faith  which  works,  the  faith  which 
tlius  openly  and  consistently  honours  God,  and  which  God 
therefore  delighteth  to  honour. 

Well  might  an  apostle  exclaim,  “ Show  me  thy  faith  without 
thy  works,  and  I will  show  thee  my  faith  by  my  works.”  Be 
assured,  that  there  is  no  declaration  of  the  revealed  word  more 
true,  or  more  important,  than  the  well-known  assertion  of  the 
same  apostle,  that  “ faith  without  works  is  dead  and  dead  to 
all  the  purposes  of  his  being,  and  all  the  hopes  of  salvation,  is 
that  man’s  heart,  which  imagines  it  has  received  into  it  a prin- 
ciple so  vital,  so  influential,  so  unceasingly  operative  as  a true 
and  living  faith,  and  yet  contentedly  remains  at  rest,  in  the 
midst  of  God’s  enemies,  and  produces  no  fruit  to  God’s  glory. 

Pursuing  the  history  of  the  Shunammite,  we  next  trace  her 
return  from  the  country  of  the  Philistines,  after  the  seven  years 
of  predicted  famine  had  passed  away,  and  find  her  once  more 
a resident  in  the  land  of  her  nativity. 

You  will,  possibly,  remember  that  when  commenting  upon 
the  former  portion  of  her  history,  we  were  much  struck  with 
the  magnanimity  of  her  reply,  to  the  proffered  favour  of  Elisha  ; 
“ Behold  thou  hast  been  careful  for  us  with  all  this  care,”  were 
the  words  of  the  grateful  prophet,  “What  is  to  be  done  for 
thee  ? wouldest  thou  be  spoken  for  to  the  king,  or  to  the  captain 
of  the  host  ? And  she  answered,”  with  dignified  contentment, 
“ I dwell  among  mine  own  people.” 

Perhaps,  as  we  at  the  time  observed,  there  was  some  slight 
feeling  of  self-complacency  mingled  with  this  indifference  to  the 
offers  of  courtly  patronage  and  kingly  favour  ; some  little  trace 
of  self-satisfaction,  while  looking  round  upon  her  large  pos- 
sessions, and  declaring,  that  she  needed  nothing  that  the  hand 
of  man  could  bestow.  We  assert  not,  that  such  was  the  fact, 
but  it  is  by  no  means  unnatural  that  it  should  have  been  so, 
and  if  it  were,  the  time  had  now  arrived,  which  was  to  teach 
her,  that  in  this  world  of  strange  vicissitudes,  no  human  being 
is  placed  so  far  beyond  the  reach  of  accident  and  change,  as  to 
render  him  independent  of  the  kind  offices  of  his  fellow-men, 

25 


290 


ELISHA. 


or  justify  him  in  being  careless  of  their  regards.  The  veiy 
next  time  we  are  introduced  to  the  Shunammite,  we  find  her  a 
suitor  of  that  monarch,  of  whose  protection  she  never  expected 
to  stand  in  need.  “ It  came  to  pass  at  the  seven  years’  end, 
that  the  woman  returned  out  of  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and 
she  went  forth  to  cry  unto  the  king  for  her  house  and  for  her 
land.”  During  her  temporary  absence,  her  possessions  had 
been  seized  by  some  encroaching  neighbour,  or  some  false 
friend ; and  she  who,  but  seven  years  before,  is  called  in 
Scripture  language,  “a  great  woman,”  might  now  say  with 
Naomi  of  old,  “ I went  out  full,  and  the  liord  hath  brought 
me  home  again  empty.”  Happy  are  they  who  lay  up  treasures 
“ where  neither  rust  nor  moth  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves 
do  not  break  through  or  steal.”  Blessed  are  ye,  brethren, 
whatever  be  your  earthly  possessions  or  advantages,  who  count 
them  all  as  nothing,  compared  with  the  “ inheritance  incor- 
ruptible, and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in 
heaven  for  you.”  That  “ riches  make  to  themselves  wings 
and  flee  away,”  is  evidenced  by  the  events  of  every  hour 
which  passes  over  us,  and  yet  how  few  are  engaged  in  endea- 
vouring to  fulfil  this  Divine  direction,  “ I say  unto  you.  Make 
to  yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness;  that 
when  ye  fail,  they  may  receive  you  into  everlasting  habita- 
tions.” So  employ  your  wealth  as  good  stewards,  of  Him,  of 
whom  the  revealed  word  hath  recorded,  “ The  silver  is  mine, 
and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. It  is  a duty 
to  which  we  ought  not  to  require  such  continual  incitements  ; 
“ freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give,”  should  be  the  Christian 
motto  ; and  when  the  claims  of  the  poor,  or  the  wretched,  or 
the  ignorant,  are  urged  upon  us,  we  should  not  need  to  have 
our  sympathies  awakened,  and  our  feelings  excited,  and  our 
vanity  propitiated,  by  long  and  laboured  intercessions  on  their 
behalf.  Neither  should  we  too  carefully  inquire.  What  have 
we  already  contributed  ; but,  what  is  needed  ? How  greatly 
has  God  blessed  and  prospered  me,  and  what  can  I bestow  out 
* Haggai  ii.  8. 


LECTURE  V I 11 


291 


of  my  fulness,  as  a proof  that  at  least  I am  not  ungrateful  for 
“ mercies  countless  as  the  sands,”  with  which  He  has  sur- 
rounded me.  Never  did  our  Divine  Master  express  a truth, 
with  which  the  heart  of  every  true  child  of  God  more  entirely 
sympathizes,  than  when  He  said,  “ It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive.” 

'rhe  Shunammite,  as  we  have  seen,  was  compelled  to  make 
application  to  the  king,  for  the  restoration  of  her  property  ; and 
now  observe  how  remarkably  her  suit  M^as  prospered  by  the 
superintending  providence  of  God.  He,  without  whom  not  a 
sparrow  falleth,  and  by  w^hom  the  very  hairs  of  our  head  are 
all  numbered,  so  appointed  it,  that  the  moment  of  her  application 
should  be  the  most  propitious  that  could  have  been  selected, 
had  she  known  every  movement  of  the  king,  and  chosen  her 
own  hour  for  an  audience.  Hear  only  the  simple  narration  of 
the  inspired  historian,  and  I think  that  you  cannot  but  be  struck 
by  the  peculiar  providence  which  attended  her.  “ And  the 
king  talked  with  Gehazi,  the  servant  of  the  man  of  God,  say- 
ing, Tell  me,  I pray  thee,  all  the  great  things  that  Elisha  hath 
done.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  was  telling  the  king  how  he 
had  restored  a dead  body  to  life,  that,  behold,  the  woman  whose 
son  he  had  restored  to  life,  cried  to  the  king  for  her  house  and 
for  her  land.”  She  was  thus  led  by  the  superintending  provi- 
dence of  God,  to  come  into  the  royal  presence  with  her  petition 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  cast-off  servant  of  Elisha  was 
proclaimiiig  the  miracle,  of  which  the  Shunammite’s  own  child 
had  been  the  subject.  Under  such  circumstances,  who  could 
refuse  to  do  her  justice,  who  could  help  befriending  one  whom 
heaven  had  already  so  befriended  ? 

Glad,  no  doubt,  to  be  corroborated  by  such  an  unimpeach- 
able witness,  no  sooner  did  the  Shunammite  enter  the  presence- 
chamber,  than  Gehazi  cried  aloud,  “ My  lord,  O king,  this  is 
the  woman,  and  this  is  her  son  whom  Elisha  restored  to  life. 
And  when  the  king  asked  the  woman,  she  told  him.  So  the 
king  appointed  unto  her  a certain  officer,  saying.  Restore  all  that 


202 


ELISHA. 


was  hers,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  field,  since  the  day  that  she 
left  the  land,  even  until  now.” 

Can  we  refrain  from  dwelling  for  a few  moments  upon  the 
peculiar  providence  of  God  as  manifested  in  this  simple  history. 
Some  may  choose  to  call  it  a coincidence,  and  doubtless  so  it 
is,  but  when  the  Christian  traces  such  coincidences  throughout 
the  whole  of  God’s  revealed  word,  throughout  every  passage 
of  his  own  life,  in  short,  throughout  the  whole  history  of  man, 
and  when  he  sees,  moreover,  what  incalculably  great  effects 
from  trivial  c5uses  spring,  he  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  all 
such  coincidences  are  the  effect  of  an  overruling  Providence, 
directing  every  thing  according  to  infinite  wisdom  and  infinite 
power.  To  believe  less  than  this,  to  acknowledge,  as  thousands 
do,  the  doctrine  of  a general  Providence,  but  to  deny  that  of  a 
particular  Providence,  to  see  God’s  hand  in  the  fall  of  an 
empire,  but  to  overlook  it  in  the  fall  of  a sparrow,  appears  as 
rational  as  to  believe  that  the  striking  of  a clock  depends  upon 
the  hidden  springs,  and  wheels,  and  works  within,  but  that  the 
movements  of  the  minute-hand  are  left  entirely  to  accident  and 
chance. 

No,  brethren,  be  assured,  that  whatever  view  the  self-called 
philosopher  may  take  of  these  things,  the  true  Christian  believes, 
and  delights  to  believe,  that  every  event,  be  it  great  or  small, 
(and  who  shall  presume  to  call  any  event  small,  until  he  has 
beheld  it  by  the  microscopic  light  of  eternity,)  is  directed  or 
overruled  by  a Father’s  superintending  care,  and  ever-watchful 
love.  It  is  difficult,  perhaps  impossible,  to  prove  this  to  any 
but  those  who  have  habitually  observed  and  recorded  the  pro- 
vidential events  within  their  own  experience,  and  yet  there  is 
one  argument  which  appears  so  unanswerable,  that  we  cannot 
refrain  from  adducing  it.  If  these  coincidences  are  purely 
fortuitous,  if  indeed  any  circumstances  can  happen  by  chance, 
how  is  it  possible  that  there  should  be  such  a thing  as  a predic- 
tion of  future  events  ? Would  not  every  prediction  be  liable 
to  be  falsified  or  frustrated  by  any  of  the  ten  thousand  contin- 


LECTURE  VIII. 


293 


gencies  which  must  occur  between  its  utterance  and  its  fulfil- 
ment. Surely,  this  alone,  the  single  fact  that  all  the  prophecies 
of  God  have  been  accomplished  to  the  very  day,  and  to  the 
very  letter,  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  what  is  casual  to 
us  is  foreknown  to  God ; that  although,  as  regards  the  secondary 
causes,  they  are  often  and  obviously  contingent,  as  regards  the 
primary:  cause,  they  are  pre-arranged  and  determined.*  That 
although  apparent  chances  abound,  it  is  only  our  limited  know- 
ledge which  occasions  them.  Take  for  example  the  very 
striking  instance  of  the  liberation  of  the  IsraelitQs  by  Pharaoh. 
God  had  predicted  that  they  should  tarry  in  the  land  of  Egypt 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period, 
“ even  the  self-same  day,”  as  the  historian  expresses  it,  “ it 
came  to  pass,  that  all  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  went  out  from  the 
land  of  Egypt.”t  Pharaoh  could  not  detain  them  one  moment 
longer,  because  of  God’s  prediction;  but  of  this  he  knew 
nothing,  he  would  not  keep  them,  because  the  death  of  all  the 
first-born  in  Egypt  made  him  as  anxious  to  speed  their  depart- 
ure, as  he  had  been,  four-and- twenty  hours  before,  to  prevent 
it.  Nothing  could  appear  to  the  Egyptians  more  entirely 
regulated  by  chance  than  the  time  of  this  exodus,  and  yet 
nothing  was,  in  fact,  better  known  to  the  faithful  Israelites, 
than  that  the  very  day  and  hour  of  their  departure  had  been 
foretold  by  God  to  Abraham.  Paley  has  long  since,  with  his  usual 
perspicuity,  illustrated,  that  the  appearance  of  chance  always 
bears  an  exact  proportion  to  the  ignorance  of  the  observer. 
Thus  he  says,  “ The  cast  of  a die  as  regularly  follows  the 
laws  of  motion,  as  the  going  of  a watch  ; yet  because  we  can 
trace  the  operation  of  those  laws  through  the  works  and  move- 
ments of  the  watch,  and  cannot  trace  them  in  the  shaking  and 
throwing  of  the  die,  (though  the  laws  be  the  same  and  prevail 
equally  in  both  cases,)  we  call  the  turning  up  of  the  number  of 
the  die  chance,  the  pointing  of  the  index  of  the  watch,  machinery, 
order,  or  by  some  name  which  excludes  chance.”  Yet  the 
one  is  as  entirely  the  effect  of  an  established  law  as  the  other, 
* See  Acts  iv.  27,  28.  t Exodus  xii.  41, 

25* 


294 


ELISHA. 


and  the  result  just  as  certain  and  undeviating.  Wliat  we  call 
chance,  therefore,  is  simply  the  creation  of  our  own  ignorance. 
For  again,  “ One  man  travelling  to  York,  meets  another  man 
travelling  to  London.  Their  meeting  is,  as  we  term  it,  a mere 
chance,  purely  accidental and  yet  it  “ was  nevertheless 
hypothetically  necessary,  (it  could  not  be  otherwise ;)  for  if 
the  two  journeys  were  commenced  at  the  time,  pursued  in  the 
direction,  and  with  the  speed,  in  which  and  with  which  they 
were,  in  fact,  begun  and  performed,  the  meeting  could  not  be 
avoided.”  Thus  it  is  that  all  which  appears  accident  and 
chance  to  us,  is  regularity  and  design  with  God. 

The  great  lessons  we  would  draw  from  this  view  of  the 
doctrine  of  a particular  Providence,  are,  1st,  To  learn  to  look 
less  to  secondary  causes  ; and  2dly,  To  trust  God,  the  Great 
First  Cause,  more  cordially  and  more  entirely. 

1st.  To  look  less  to  secondary  causes. 

If  we  indeed  believe  that  our  heavenly  Father  rules  and 
overrules  every  event  of  our  lives,  are  we  not  ashamed  to  be 
so  continually  distressing  ourselves,  by  repiningly  meditating 
upon  what  might  have  been  the  result,  had  the  events  which 
led  to  it,  been  different  from  what  they  were  ? Why  are  we 
for  ever  asking  ourselves.  What  would  have  been  the  case,  had 
such  a course  been  taken,  such  a line  of  conduct  been  adopted  ; 
instead  of  calmly  and  contentedly,  in  every  event  of  our  lives, 
after  having  used  the  wisdom  which  God  has  given  us,  and 
committed  the  event  to  him,  in  earnest,  faithful,  persevering 
prayer,  resting  quietly  upon  his  unbroken  promise,  “ Commit 
thy  way  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  bring  it  to  pass.”* 

2d.  The  second  lesson  we  would  deduce,  is  to  trust  God 
more  implicitly. 

Believing  not  only  that  the  great  outlines  of  our  lives  are 
sketched  by  the  hand  of  our  heavenly  Father,  but  that  all  the 
filling  up  is  supplied  from  the  same  source,  we  shall  view  our 
position  in  the  world,  our  station  in  society,  our  family  bless- 
ings and  family  difficulties,  our  personal  advantages  and  personal 
* Psalm  xxxvii.  5, 


LECTURE  Vill. 


205 


trials,  our  daily  labours  and  daily  comforts,  the  trifling  events 
which  try  our  tempers,  or  exercise  our  patience,  or  demonstrate 
our  faith,  or  call  forth  our  love,  as  so  many  little  touches,  all 
necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  picture,  and  each  put  in  by 
the  same  Almighty  hand. 

How  eminently  comfortable  is  the  state  of  mind  thus  super- 
induced, even  during  the  darkest  and  least  intelligible  of  the 
providences  of  God.  With  this  belief  once  firmly  established 
in  your  mind,  you  will  feel  convinced  that  all  is  right,  and 
wise,  and  merciful  in  many  a dispensation  where  you  can, 
perhaps,  at  present  see  nothing  of  the  intention  or  design. 
Attributing  all  to  that  God  who  cannot  err,  you  will  follow  on 
in  the  track  which  his  Providence  lays  down  for  you,  faith- 
fully and  unrepiningly  : knowing  that  it  will  assuredly  issue  in 
good,  although  when,  and  where,  and  how  it  will  terminate, 
you  know  not.  In  this  world  we  are  seldom  permitted  to  have 
more  than  a side  view  of  a' providence,  but  when  we  reach  the 
end  of  our  course,  and  can  turn  and  gaze  from  the  battlements 
of  the  celestial  city,  upon  the  path  we  have  been  traversing, 
we  shall  see  its  face,  and  be  astonished  to  find,  that  what  we 
have  been  following,  through  days  of  darkness  and  nights  of 
despondency,  as  a stranger  and  an  enemy,  has  been,  indeed, 
one  of  our  best  and  dearest  friends. 

How  will  the  heart,  now  broken  for  sin  and  overwhelmed 
with  sorrow,  then  receive  “beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for 
mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.”* 
How  will  the  parent,  who  has  grieved  over  the  early  departure 
of  those  most  dear  to  him,  wondering  at  what  he  now  terms 
the  “ mysterious  Providence”  which  has  swept  away  the 
young  and  vigorous  branches,  while  it  has  left  untouched  the 
scathed  and  feeble  stem,  then  see  that  the  heaviest  blasts  came 
laden  with  the  largest  portions  of  love,  and  were  directed  by  a 
parent  infinitely  more  tender  than  himself. 

Could  we  but  now  possess  one  shadowy  glimpse  of  all  that 
wc  shall  plainly  see,  and  perfectly  know  hereafter,  never,  never 
* Isaiah  Ixi.  3. 


296 


ELISHA. 


should  we  repine  even  at  the  darkest  providence,  or  harbour 
one  doubtful  feeling  of  God’s  love,  even  in  the  most  trying, 
most  disappointing  moment  of  our  lives.  If  every  earthly  hope 
should  fail  us,  if  every  friend  should  deceive  us,  if  every  dearly- 
loved  and  closely-cherished  relative  lay  dead  or  dying  at  our  feet, 
the  language  of  our  hearts,  amidst  this  wreck  of  all  life’s  pro- 
mises, and  all  its  prospects,  and  all  its  enjoyments,  would  still 
be,  “ It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good,” 
Even  so,  Father;  for  so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight.” 


LECTURE  IX. 

2 Kings  viii.  13. 

“ And  Hazael  said^  But  wnat,  is  thy  servant  a dog,  that  he  should  do  thia 
great  thing 

Continuing  the  history  in  which  we  are  engaged,  we  find 
Elisha  for  the  first  time  wandering  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
native  land,  and  a visitor  in  the  country  of  the  Syrians,  his  open 
and  declared  enemies. 

Benhaddad,  who  was  king  of  Syria  at  the  time  when 
Naaman,  the  captain  of  his  host,  was  healed  by  Elisha,  was  still 
the  reigning  monarch  ; but  he  was  at  this  period  suffering  under 
a great  and  serious  illness.  The  coming  of  the  prophet  into 
his  land  was  soon  reported  even  in  the  sick  chamber  of  the 
king,  and  he  who  had  witnessed  so  remarkable  an  instance  of 
Elisha’s  miraculous  power  in  the  recovery  of  Naaman,  would 
naturally  desire  to  consult  him  respecting  his  own. 

Accordingly,  we  read,  that  no  sooner  was  it  told  the  king, 
“ saying,  the  man  of  God  is  come  hither,”  than  he  despatched 
Hazael,  one  of  his  chief  officers,  saying,  “ Take  a present  in 
thine  hand,  and  go,  meet  the  man  of  God,  and  inquire  of  the 
Lord  by  him,  saying,  Shall  I recover  of  this  disease?” 

IIow  diflerent  a message  from  that  which  true  wisdom 


LECTURE  IX. 


297 


^ would  have  dictated.  How  much  more  reasonable  would  it  have 
been  to  have  said,  “ Go,  meet  the  man  of  God,  and  entreat  him 
to  heal  me.”  Or,  how  wiser  far,  “ Go,  meet  the  man  of  God, 
and  invite  him  to  come  and  speak  to  me  of  the  God  of  Israel.” 
But,  alas ! Benhadad  possessed  not  the  inclination  to  be 
instructed,  or  the  faith  to  be  cured  ; he  had  simply  the  curiosity 
to  know  what  would  be  the  result  of  his  malady.  Strange, 
brethren,  that  it  ^should  be  so  strong  a feature  in  the  human 
mind,  to  desire  to  be  informed  of  that  which  would  profit  us 
little  if  known,  and  to  be  indifferent  to  the  only  knowledge, 
which  “is  life  eternal.”  “ Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  re- 
store the  kingdom  to  Israel  ?”  “ Lord,  are  there  few  that  be 

saved  ?”  were  questions  from  which  even  the  apostles  them- 
selves could  not  refrain  ; how  many  at  all  times  would  like  to 
indulge  in  similar  inquiries ; how  few  who  desire  to  ask  with 
the  same  sincerity  and  earnestness,  “ Lord,  what  shall  I do  to 
be  saved  ?”  And  yet  the  most  explicit  answer  to  the  former 
could  only  gratify  a fruitless  curiosity;  while  upon  the  latter, 
an  eternity,  yes,  absolutely,  an  eternity,  of  weal  or  wo  depends. 

Benhadad’s  messenger  departs  with  the  deeply  interesting, 
but  singularly  unprofitable  inquiry  of  his  master.  For  the 
historian  informs  us  that  Hazael  went  to  meet  him  (Elisha), 
and  took  a present  with  him,  even  of  every  good  thing  of 
Damascus,  forty  camels’  burden,  and  came  and  stood  before  him, 
and  said,  “ Thy  son  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  hath  sent  me  to 
thee,  saying.  Shall  I recover  of  this  disease  ?” 

“ Thy  son  Benhadad  ;”  this  was  widely  different  language 
from  that  with  which  Elisha  would  have  been  greeted,  had  the 
bands  which  this  same  monarch  sent,  but  a short  time  since,  to 
arrest  him,  been  successful  in  capturing  the  prophet.  But  Ben- 
hadad then  was  in  all  the  vigour  of  health,  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  a crown,  and  with  a prospect  of  its  many  years’ 
continuance  ; a bed  of  sickness,  a strong  conviction  of  the  utter 
insufficiency  of  worldly  help  to  aid  us,  a near  glimpse  of  eternity, 
are  powerful  correctives,  mighty  teachers.  Brethren,  if  you 
would  only  think  of  the  word  of  God’s  ministers,  of  the  duties 


298 


ELISHA. 


of  God’s  day,  of  the  importance  of  God’s  commandments, 
and,  above  all,  of  the  infinite  value  of  God’s  dear  Son,  now,  as 
most  men  think  of  them  upon  a sick  bed,  as,  perhaps,  you 
yourselves  have  there  thought  of  them,  the  charm  of  this  world 
would  be  broken,  and,  as  a bird  out  of  the  hand  of  the  fowler, 
by  God’s  help  your  soul  would  be  delivered  from  those  snares 
by  which  it  is  now  so  fatally  entangled.  Cherish,  I beseech 
you,  most  prayerfully,  most  earnestly,  the  feelings  and  resolu- 
tions which  are  implanted  in  a chamber  of  sickness.  To  forget 
or  neglect  them  with  returning  health,  is  one  of  the  most  effec- 
tual, but,  alas  ! most  common  means,  of  sowing  with  thorns  a 
dying  pillow. 

“ And  Elisha  said  unto  him,  Go,  say  unto  him.  Thou  mayest 
certainly  recover ; howbeit  the  Lord  hath  showed  me  that  he 
shall  surely  die  i.  e.  Benhadad  may  certainly  be  healed  of 
the  disease,  in  which  there  is  nothing  mortal,  but  God  hath 
shown  me  that  he  shall  die,  though  from  a very  different  cause. 
“ And  he  settled  his  countenance  steadfastly,  until  he  was 
ashamed  ; and  the  man  of  God  wept.”  Hazael  settled  his 
countenance  in  well-feigned  regret  at  this  prediction  of  his 
master’s  death,  until  he  quailed  beneath  the  steady  gaze  of  the 
prophet,  who  evidently  penetrated  the  flimsy  veil  of  his  hypo- 
crisy, and  made  him  ashamed  of  his  detected  guilt.  “And  the 
man  of  God  wept his  eye  was  permitted  to  foresee  the  horrors 
impending  upon  his  native  country,  and  he  could  no  longer 
refrain  from  tears.  He  wept  to  think  of  all  that  Hazael  would 
perpetrate,  and  all  that  Israel  would  suffer.  “ And  Hazael  said, 
Why  weepeth  my  lord  ? And  he  answered.  Because  I know 
the  evil  that  thou  wilt  do  unto  the  children  of  Israel ; their 
strongholds  wilt  thou  set  on  fire,  and  their  young  men  wilt  thou 
slay  with  the  sword,  and  wilt  dash  their  children,  and  rip  up 
their  women  with  child.”  He  wept,  therefore,  because  he 
foreknew  the  evil.  What  a melancholy  thing,  in  almost  every 
case,  would  be  to  us  a knowledge  of  the  future  ! While  we 
dwell  in  a world  of  sorrow,  sin,  and  misery,  how  merciful  that 
God  has  cast  so  thick  a cloud  over  the  coming  hour.  None 


LECTURE  IX. 


ever  yet  have  been  permitted  to  look  beyond  it,  without  dim- 
ming the  prospect  with  their  tears.  Elisha  wept  over  Israel’s 
approaching  sulFerings  ; Jesus  himself  could  not  refrain  ; for,  as 
he  descended  for  the  last  time  from  the  Mount  of  Olivet,  his 
mind  filled  with  the  foreknowledge  of  the  desolation  of  that 
glorious  temple,  and  the  destruction  of  its  wretched  worship- 
pers, are  we  not  expressly  told,  when  he  “ beheld  the  city  he 
wept  over  it.” 

Much  cause,  then,  as  we  have  to  praise  God  for  our  know- 
ledge, we  have  quite  as  urgent  reason  to  bless  him  for  our 
ignorance;  for,  in  a world  of  sufTering  and  of  sin,  how  seldom, 
how  very  seldom  would  prescience  and  misery  be  disunited. 
How  often  would  the  mother’s  heart  be  filled  with  sorrow,  and 
her  eyes  with  tears,  if,  while  she  pressed  her  little  one  to  her 
bosom,  she  could  read  in  its  peaceful  and  innocent  countenance 
the  trials,  and  the  sufferings,  and  the  wretchedness  of  the  future 
man ; how  often,  while  the  parent  watches  with  joy  the  first 
tottering  footsteps  of  the  child,  would  his  spirit  sink  within 
him,  as  that  dark  day  passed  in  sad  and  sorrowful  anticipation 
before  his  eyes,  when  the  course  of  nature  should  be  inverted, 
and  he  should  follow  to  the  sepulchre  the  remains  of  one  whom 
he  fondly  hoped  would  be  the  comfort  and  solace  of  his  own 
declining  years,  or,  even  worse  than  this,  when  he  should  live 
to  see  him  a profligate  and  a reprobate,  every  early  lesson  for- 
gotten, every  good  example  cast  aside ; the  fairest  prospects  of 
his  youth  for  ever  blighted,  and  his  matiirer  age  dishonoured 
by  a course  of  reckless  dissipation,  and  hastening  the  footsteps 
of  those  who  gave  him  being,  with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  But 
why  do  we  particularize  ? Where  is  the  festive  scene  ? where 
is  the  social  meeting  ? where  even  is  the  domestic  and  family 
circle,  upon  which  a knowledge  of  the  future,  (we  speak  only 
of  the  future  which  this  world’s  horizon  bounds  and  limits,) 
would  not  cast  a deep  and  gloomy  shadow  ? Let,  then,  our 
praises  ascend  to  God,  that  all  here  below  is  to  us  unknown 
and  uncertain  ; that  if  afflictions  and  distresses,  if  sorrows  and 
disappointments  be  gathering  around  our  path,  there  is  no 


ELISHA. 


mo 

darkening  cloud  to  portend,  no  ominous  howling  of  the  elements 
to  proclaim  the  coming  tempest.  But  still  louder  and  more 
heartfelt  should  be  our  thanksgivings,  that  this  uncertainty  has 
its  boundary,  this  ignorance  its  limit,  even  though  that  boundary 
and  that  limit  is  the  grave.  The  foreknowledge  which  would 
be  our  bane  and  curse  as  regards  the  events  of  lime,  is  our 
highest  joy,  our  strongest  consolation,  as  respects  those  of 
eternity.  Of  the  better  and  nobler  things  which  God  has  pre- 
pared for  all  who  love  him,  our  heavenly  Father  suffers  no 
ignorance  to  dull  our  minds,  no  uncertainty  to  mar  our  prospect ; 
and  we,  poor  children  of  the  dust,  whose  eye  can  penetrate  but 
little  deeper  into  the  events  of  the  day  which  passes  over  us 
than  the  worm  we  tread  upon,  can  see  as  angels  see,  and  know 
with  a certainty,  that  the  highest  archangel  cannot  emulate, 
events  which  shall  befall  us,  and  blessings  which  await  us, 
when  time  itself  has  ceased  to  be.  Yes,  every  true  child  of 
God  is  here  a prophet,  and  has  inherited  the  prescience  of  holy 
Job,  and  may  say  with  the  same  assurance,  and  the  same 
humble  confidence,  I also  “ know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth, 
and  that  He  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the  earth ; and 
though  after  my  skin,  worms  destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my 
flesh  shall  I see  God  while  he  may,  without  presumption, 
add  with  the  apostle,  “ Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
shall  give  me  at  that  day.”  Here  is  indeed  a foreknowledge, 
which,  God  be  praised,  is  offered  to  all  his  children,  and  which 
consoles,  and  comforts,  and  elevates,  while  it  enlightens  and 
informs.  Rest  not  until  it  is  fully  established  in  your  mind, 
and  occupies  its  proper  place  within  your  heart,  for  nothing 
short  of  this  can  raise  you  effectually,  above  “ the  changes  and 
chances  of  this  mortal  life,”  or  make  you  tranquil,  cheerful, 
and  resigned,  amidst  the  darkest  vicissitudes  that  may  await 
you. 

Returning  to  the  history,  we  find  that  no  sooner  had  Elisha 
predicted  to  Hazael  the  enormities  of  which  he  should  shortly 
be  guilty,  than  with  all  the  astonishment  and  indignation  of 


LECTURE  IX. 


301 


suspected  innocence,  Hazael  exclaims,  “ But  what,  is  thy 
servant  a dog,  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing  ? And  Elisha 
answered.  The  Lord  hath  showed  me  that  thou  shall  be  king 
over  Syria.” 

If  we  can  believe,  and  there  is  certainly  no  reason  to  doubt, 
that  the  astonishment  of  Hazael  at  this  prediction  of  his  Qwn 
atrocities  was  real,  what  a striking  and  profitable  picture  is  it 
of  the  heart’s  astounding  ignorance  of  itself ! Am  I a dog,  that 
I should  commit  enormities,  from  the  mere  recital  of  which  my 
spirit  shrinks  ? Yet  this  was  the  man,  who,  within  four-and- 
twenty  hours,  was  guilty  of  an  act  quite  equal  in  horror  and  in 
baseness,  to  any  which  had  so  greatly  shocked  him.  Alas  ! 
brethren,  how  little  do  we  know  of  our  own  hearts.  And  what 
is  the  consequence  of  this  ? Not  only  that  men  are  continually 
falling  victims  to  enemies  whom  they  despise,  and  temptations 
which  they  disregard,  but  even  yet  more  fatal  for  their  souls’ 
salvation,  that  they  believe  not  the  record  which  the  unerring 
Word  of  God  gives  of  them,  and  thus  a deep  conviction  of  sin, 
the  very  foundation  of  all  true  religion,  is  wanting  in  their 
hearts. 

Is  the  truth  of  this  assertion  doubtful  ? Then  bear  with  me 
while  I repeat  to  you  some  of  those  humiliating  statements 
which  the  Bible  makes,  not  of  any  particular  individual,  or  of 
any  particular  class,  but  of  all  classes,  and  of  all  individuals,  and 
watch,  while  I enumerate  them,  how  the  recital  affects  your- 
selves. Take  the  well-known  declaration  of  Jeremiah,  xvii.  9, 
“ The  heart  (speaking  of  every  heart)  is  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  desperately  wicked.”  Or,  of  Ecclesiastes,  ix.  3, 
“ The  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  (speaking  of  all  the  sons  of  men) 
is  full  of  evil.”  Or,  of  Christ  himself  (Matt.  xv.  19),  “ Out 
of  the  heart  (again  referring  to  every  heart)  proceed  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false  witness, 
blasphemies.”  Or,  read  seriously  from  the  tenth  to  the  nine- 
teenth verse  of  the  third  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
Now,  I would  ask  you,  candidly.  What  is  the  effect  upon  your 

own  mind  of  s.:ch  declarations  as  these  ? Is  it  not,  in  some 

26 


ELISHA, 


no2 

instances  at  least,  very  similar  to  that  produced  by  Elisha  upon 
the  heart  of  Hazael  ? Are  you  not  ready  to  ask,  with  equal 
surprise  and  indignation,  I a murderer?  Ian  adulterer?  la 
blasphemer  ? Am  I a dog,  that  I should  be  suspected  of  atroci- 
ties such  as  these  ? 

If  the  Bible  be  true,  there  is  no  enormity  of  which  the  uncon- 
verted, unregenerate  man,  may  not  be  guilty,  when  temptation 
and  opportunity  are  afforded  him,  and  he  is  left  to  the  uncon- 
trolled domination  of  his  own  lusts  and  appetites.  Does  your 
experience  contradict  this?  Have  you  never  cherished  any 
thoughts,  have  you  never  uttered  any  words,  have  you  never 
committed  any  actions,  of  which  you  believed  yourself  inca- 
pable, and  to  every  one  of  which,  if  predicted,  you  would  have 
flung  out  as  bold  and  confident  a defiance  as  ever  Peter  did, 
when  he  declared,  in  utter  ignorance  of  himself,  “ Though  I 
should  die  with  thee,  yet  will  I not  deny  thee  in  anywise.” 
Nay,  I would  go  farther  than  this,  and  ask,  have  you  never 
resolved  against  a temptation,  and  even  prayed  against  it,  and 
yet  been  overcome  by  it,  within  a few  hours  after  you  have 
risen  from  your  knees  in  perfect  confidence  that  you  had  won 
the  victory?  Sure  I am,  that  this  is  not  merely  the  experience 
of  an  individual,  but  of  the  whole  Church  of  God.  If,  then, 
you  would  be  saved  from  evil,  begin  by  praying  that  you  may 
know  what  is  evil,  by  understanding  something  of  the  corrup- 
tion and  depravity,  the  blindness  and  stubbornness  of  your  own 
heart.  No  human  being  can  be  adequately  aware  of  the  extent 
of  these,  until  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  view  them  as 
God  views  them  ; not  in  the  horrible  maturity  of  perpetrated 
sin,  as  the  daily  chronicles  of  crime  continually  record  them, 
but  in  the  guilty  motives,  the  unholy  principles,  the  tainted 
thoughts,  the  impure  imaginations  from  which  they  flow,  and 
which  are  all  as  hateful  to  God,  and  as  obnoxious  to  his  wrath, 
as  the  more  frightful,  because  more  ostensible  practices,  to 
which,  if  unrestrained  by  his  Spirit,  they  are  ultimately,  but 
surely,  tending. 

And  may  not  the  people  of  God  find  something  here  where-'- 


LECTURE  IX. 


303 


with  to  profit  them.  Do  you,  Christian  brethren,  abstain  from 
open  sins  ? Are  you  unacquainted,  practically  at  least,  with 
gross  enormities  ? Are  you  able,  in  some  degree,  to  maintain 
a holy  consistency,  even  in  the  more  hidden  walk  and  conver- 
sation of  the  Christian  life  ? Then,  who  hath  made  you  to  differ 
from  another,  or  what  hast  thou  which  thou  hast  not  received? 
Great,  indeed,  will  be  the  outpouring  of  your  gratitude,  and 
zealous  and  earnest  its  returns  in  the  sacrifices  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving,  and  holy  obedience,  when  you  consider  what 
you  are,  and  what  you  might  have  been  ; nay,  what  you  were, 
and  what  you  still  would  be,  were  it  not  for  God’s  sovereign 
grace,  to  which  alone  you  are  indebted  for  your  revival  from  a 
death  in  sin,  to  a life  of  holiness  here,  and  of  happiness  in  the 
eternity  which  is  awaiting  you. 

But  we  must  pursue  this  eventful  story  to  its  melancholy 
close 

“ So  Hazael  departed  from  Elisha,  and  came  to  his  master, 
who  said  to  him.  What  said  Elisha  to  thee  ? And  he  answered, 
He  told  me  that  thou  shouldest  surely  recover.”  How  utterly 
false  and  unjustifiable  was  this  reply.  Elisha  had  certainly 
said  that  Benhadad  might  recover,  but  he  had  never  said  that 
he  should  do  so ; he  had  distinctly  declared  that  he  should 
“surely  die.”  This  falsehood,  however,  was  only  the  first 
step  in  the  downward  career  of  guilt  which  the  prophet  had 
predicted,  and  which,  as  usual,  darkened  as  it  advanced. 

No  doubt  the  intention  of  Hazael  was  to  blind  Benhadad  to 
his  danger.  For  had  he  repeated  truly  the  prophet’s  message, 
in  all  probability  the  sick  man  would  have  sent,  not  “ forty 
camels’  load  of  every  good  thing  in  Damascus,”  but  four  hun- 
dred, if  he  might  but  have  prevailed  upon  Elisha  to  do  for  him 
what  he  had  done  for  Naaman.  But  Hazael  had  a very  difier- 
ent  project,  and  he  must  lull  his  victim  into  a false  security, 
that  he  might  encounter  no  difficulty,  and  lose  no  time  in  carry- 
ing it  into  effect. 

How  often  does  Satan,  even  at  the  present  hour,  practise 
precisely  the  same  cunning  and  destructive  stratagem.  Is  the 


304 


ELISHA. 


sick  man  terrified  at  the  thought  of  approaching  dissolution  ! 
Satan  dreads  lest  this  be  followed  by  a heartfelt  cry  for  mercy, 
a strong  deep  feeling  of  repentance,  and  like  Hazael,  he 
whispers  in  his  ear,  “ Thou  shalt  surely  recover this  sickness 
is  not  unto  death,  be  not  alarmed,  all  will  yet  be  well.  Is  the 
sinner  partially  awakened  to  a sense  of  his  own  dreadful  situa- 
tion ? does  he  see  the  opening  gulf  which  his  sins  have  prepared 
for  him?  does  he  fear  the  justly  awakened  anger  of  God, 
which  he  has  so  long  despised  ? the  same  false  and  deluding 
comforter  is  present  to  assuage  his  fears,  and  calm  his  appre- 
hension, “ Thou  shalt  not  surely  die,  for  God  doth  know”  that 
thou  art  not  so  bad  as  thousands  around  thee ; dismiss,  there- 
fore, thy  fears,  “ eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.” 

Brethren,  beware  of  the  tempter,  under  what  form  soever  he 
present  himself,  but  fear  him  most  of  all  when  he  counterfeits 
the  Comforter,  when,  disguised  as  an  angel  of  light,  he  would 
carry  peace  and  consolation  to  your  heart.  It  is,  like  Hazael, 
only  that  he  may  the  easier  stifle  your  cry  for  pardon,  and 
smother  the  convictions  which  are  perhaps  for  the  first  time 
struggling  into  life  within  your  bosom.  “ Resist  the  devil,  and 
he  will  flee  from  yOu.”  Listen  to  him,  and  he  will  destroy 
you.  Be  not  thus  robbed  of  what  may  be  to  you  your  last, 
your  only  hope.  Be  not,  I beseech  you,  thus  fooled  out  of  a 
soul’s  salvation.  Let  your  earnest,  heartfelt  cries  ascend  to 
that  mercy-seat  where  prayer  was  never  yet  in  vain.  Ask  for 
that  Spirit  who  can  alone  convert  the  heart.  Plead  powerfully 
with  that  Saviour  who  is  the  sinner’s  friend,  whose  blood 
cleanseth  from  all  guilt,  who  “ hath  life  in  himself,  and  quick- 
eneth  whom  he  will.”  Nothing  can  keep  you  from  him, 
unless  you  permit  Satan  to  harden  your  heart,  to  postpone  your 
repentance,  to  suffocate  your  prayers. 

“And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  Hazael  took  a 
thick  cloth,  and  dipped  it  in  water,  and  spread  it  on  Benhadad’s 
face,  so  that  he  died.” 

Hazael’s  lie,  therefore,  was  abundantly  successful.  Ben- 
hadad’s fears  were  calmed,  his  apprehensions  quieted,  he  no 


LECTURE  IX. 


305 


longer  desired  to  see  the  prophet,  he  no  further  doubted  as  to 
the  result;  his  anxieties  were  succeeded  by  a peaceful  and 
gentle  repose ; and  his  friend,  the  man  who  was  indebted  to 
him  for  all  that  he  possessed  of  worldly  rank  and  affluence,  the 
man  whom  the  king  delighted  to  honour,  and  placed  at  his  own 
right  hand,  converted,  in  one  guilty  moment,  that  sleep  of  peace 
into  the  sleep  of  death. 

“ And  Hazael  reigned  in  his  stead,”  is  the  brief  and  only 
comment  of  Holy  writ.  The  benefactor  dies  a violent  death, 
and  the  murderer  becomes  a prosperous  and  successful  king. 

Brethren,  if  it  were  only  for  cases  such  as  these,  and  history 
is  full,  and  human  life,  alas  1 even  /at  the  present  hour,  is  not 
destitute  of  them,  a disbelief  in  a future  state,  and  in  that 
Saviour  who  alone  can  make  it,  to  us,  a blessed  and  a happy 
one,  would  “ dim  the  stars  above  our  heads,  and  wither  the 
very  grass  at  our  feet.” 

But  there  is  a day  coming,  when  all  these  difficulties  will  be 
solved,  and  all  these  discrepancies  reconciled  ; when  the  great 
white  throne  shall  descend,  and  he  who  sits  thereon  shall 
“judge  the  world  in  righteousness,”  every  man  according  as 
his  works  have  been.  The  murderer  will  then  again  stand 
face  to  face  with  his  victim,  whose  very  look  will  be  his  con- 
demnation ; the  betrayer  of  innocence,  the  dishonest,  the  false, 
the  profane,  the  Sabbath-breaker,  and  all  and  each  will  call 
upon  the  rocks  to  cover  them,  and  the  mountains  to  hide  them 
from  the  face  of  Him  who  sitteth  upon  the  throne.  But  on 
that  day  they  shall  call  in  vain ; it  will  be  a day  of  unerring 
judgment,  of  inexorable  justice,  of  uncompromising  retribution. 
Well  might  the  prophet  ask,  “ But  who  may  abide  the  day  of 
his  coming  ? and  who  shall  stand  when  he  appeareth  ?”  Blessed 
be  God,  that  His  Word  has  not  left  us  without  an  answer. 
For  we  may  with  humble  confidence  reply,  Every  sinner  who 
has  washed  his  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Every  contrite  soul  who  has  fled  for  refuge  to  the 
hope  set  before  him  in  the  Gospel ; every  believer  who  has 
laid  hold,  with  firm  and  steady  hand,  upon  the  horns  of  the 
26* 


306 


ELISHA. 


altar,  whence  the  blood  of  atonement  freely  flowed,  and  whence 
the  offers  of  salvation  are  as  freely  sounded.  Saul,  the 
murderer  and  blasphemer,  did  not  sue  in  vain.  The  guiltiest 
among  ourselves  is  not  excluded ; for  with  broken-hearted  peni- 
tence and  living  faith,  he  may  seek  and  find,  even  now,  a pardon 
there.  “ Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift.” 


LECTURE  X. 

2 Kings  ix.  36. 

“ This  is  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  spake  by  his  servant  Elijah  the 
Tishbite.” 

At  the  commencement  of  the  course  of  lectures  in  which 
we  are  engaged,  we  were  informed,  at  the  period  of  the  first 
calling  of  Elisha,  of  the  objects  for  which  he  was  chiefiy  set 
apart  for  the  prophetical  office.  The  words  of  the  Almighty 
to  the  prophet  Elijah  were  as  follow,  “ Anoint  Hazael  to  be 
king  over  Syria ; and  Jehu,  the  son  of  Nirnshi,  shalt  thou 
anoint  to  be  king  over  Israel,  and  Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat, 
of  Abel-meholah,  shalt  thou  anoint  to  be  prophet  in  thy  room.” 
It  was,  then,  as  prophet  in  the  room  of  Elijah,  that  Elisha  was 
to  fulfil  those  duties  of  the  elder  seer,  which  his  translation 
into  the  presence  of  his  Divine  Master,  precluded  him  from 
performing  himself. 

Of  these  high  and  important  behests  but  one  now  remained 
unaccomplished,  “Jehu,  the  son  of  Nirnshi,  shalt  thou  anoint 
to  be  king  over  Israel and  as  Elisha  was  fast  sinking  into  the 
vale  of  years,  and  the  fulness  of  time  had  doubtless  arrived,  it 
behoved  him  “ to  do  the  will  of  Him  who  sent  him,”  and  to 
finish  his  work,  that  he  might  be  ready  for  his  own  approach- 
ing summons  into  the  kingdom  and  joy  of  his  Lord. 

Seven  years  had  passed  away  since  he  had  journeyed,  with 
all  the  energy  of  youth,  into  Syria,  to  proclaim  to  Hazael  that 


LECTURK  X. 


307 


the  Lord  had  showed  him  that  he  should  be  king  over  Syria. 
These  seven  years  had  made  great  inroads  upon  Elisha’s 
strength  and  activity,  and  he  was  no  longer  able  in  person  to 
undertake  the  journey  to  Ramoth-gilead,  but  remaining  quietly 
in  his  distant  home,  perhaps  in  his  prophet’s  chamber  on  the 
wall,  deputed  a younger  and  more  able  representative  to  achieve 
the  high  and  important  enterprise.  Deeply  trying  must  it 
have  been  to  the  prophet  thus  to  transact  by  the  hands  and 
mouth  of  another,  what  he  would  doubtless  far  more  willingly 
have  performed  in  his  own  person,  and  with  his  own  lips  ; 
how  trying,  none  can  tell,  but  those  who  are  similarly  prevented 
from  personally  fulfilling  the  duties  of  their  respective  stations, 
be  they  what  they  may.  But,  brethren,  when  those  duties  are, 
in  an  especial  manner,  duties  due  to  God,  when  those  services 
are  peculiarly  to  be  wrought  for  him,  it  is  difficult  to  express 
the  feelings  of  heartfelt  sorrow  and  regret  with  which  we  re- 
sign them  into  other,  even  though  we  are  persuaded,  into  better 
hands  than  our  own.  It  is  painful,  deeply  painful,  for  the 
Christian,  and  especially  for  the  Christian  minister,  to  feel 
how  short  the  time  is  in  which,  under  the  happiest  circum- 
stances, he  can  work  for  God  ! True,  he  hopes  to  spend  an 
eternity  in  His  presence,  a sabbath  of  joy,  and  rest,  and  praise  ; 
but  he  knows  not,  he  cannot  know,  but  that  when  his  threescore 
years  and  ten  have  terminated — and  how  much  shorter  is  the 
period  allotted  to  most — his  work-days  will  be  over ; never 
again  shall  he  enjoy  the  privilege  of  labouring  for  God,  and  of 
extending  his  kingdom  ; never  again  shall  he  find  enemies, 
whom  love  may  soften  ; ignorant,  whom  instruction  may  teach ; 
poor,  whom  benevolence  may  aid  ; brethren,  whom  encourage- 
ment may  comfort ; broken  and  contrite  hearts,  which,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  help  of  his  God,  he  may  bind  up.  These 
are  privileges  which  the  holiest  can  scarcely  resign  without  a 
sigh,  for  they  are  services  in  which  an  angel  might  delight,  and 
the  highest  archangel  desire  to  participate.  Lose  not  then  the 
lesson  so  obviously  taught  by  these  reflections  : Whatsoevei 
thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might ; for  there  is  no 


308 


ELISHA. 


work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom  in  the  grave, 
whither  thou  goest.”^ 

“ Aiid  Elisha  the  prophet  called  one  of  the  children  of  the 
prophets,  and  said  unto  him.  Gird  up  thy  loins,  and  take  this 
box  of  oil  in  thine  hand,  and  go  to  Ramoth-gilead : and  when 
thou  comest  thither,  look  out  there  Jehu  the  son  of  Jehoshaphat 
the  son  of  Nimshi,  and  go  in,  and  make  him  arise  up  from 
among  his  brethren,  and  carry  him  into  an  inner  chamber  ; then 
take  the  box  of  oil,  and  pour  it  on  his  head,  and  say,  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  I have  anointed  thee  king  of  Israel.” 

There  is  something  very  impressive  in  the  thought  of  this 
consecrated  prophet  of  the  Most  High,  living  in  utter  obscurity, 
indebted  perhaps  to  the  charity  of  a holy  woman  for  a roof  to 
shelter  him  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and  yet  thus 
disposing  of  crowns  and  kingdoms,  as  if  he  were  among  the 
highest  potentates  of  the  earth. 

So  does  it  please  the  Almighty  sometimes  openly  and  unan- 
swerably to  demonstrate  the  truth  of.his  own  declaration,  “ By 
me  kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice.” 

But,  brethren,  does  this  astonish  you  ? You  shall  see  greater 
things  than  these.  For  thus,  at  all  times,  “ God  hath  chosen 
the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise ; and  God 
hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
things  which  are  mighty ; and  base  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  which  are  despised,  hath  God  chosen ; yea,  and  things 
which  are  not,  to  bring  to  naught  things  that  are  ; that  no  flesh 
should  glory  in  his  presence.”  The  same  Almighty  potentate, 
who  in  the  olden  dispensation  thus  distributed  temporal  crowns 
and  worldly  glories  by  the  hands  of  the  most  inconsiderable  of 
the  souls  of  men,  to  show  that  the  Lord  alone  ruleth  in  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth ; still  continues,  even  at  the  present 
moment,  to  offer  eternal  crowns  and  never-dying  glories,  through 
the  same  weak  and  feeble  instruments,  to  prove  that  He  alone 
ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  “We  have  this  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels,”  writes  the  Apostle,  “ that  the  excellency 


* Eccl.  ix.  10. 


LECTURE  X. 


309 


of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us.”  The  feeblest 
and  least  honoured  among  the  servants  of  God,  he  who  dwell- 
ing in  an  obscurity  from  which  he  desires  not  to  emerge,  utterly 
unknown  to  the  great,  and  wealthy,  and  powerful  of  the  earth, 
may  be,  and  often  is,  the  blessed  instrument  of  assisting  in 
accomplishing  the  number  of  God’s  elect,  and  in  filling  up  the 
mansions  of  the  heavenly  house,  and  in  preparing  the  heirs  of 
immortality  for  crowns  of  glory,  when  those  of  earth  shall 
have  faded  for  ever  from  our  view.  But,  brethren,  did  Jehu 
express  his  gratitude  to  the  prophet  for  his  earthly  crown  ? 
Will  you  thank  that  servant  for  your  heavenly  inheritance  ? I 
trow  not.  For  God,  and  God  alone,  shall  be  exalted  in  that 
day.  You  deprive  yourselves  of  the  benefit  of  the  lesson,  you 
subvert  the  very  principle  upon  which  the  Almighty  acts,  if 
you,  even  for  a moment,  lose  sight  of  this  great  scriptural  truth, 
or  unduly  exalt  the  dignity  of  the  messenger. 

I do  not  forget  that  St.  Paul  says,  “ Inasmuch  as  I am  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  I magnify  mine  office.”^  But  neither 
can  I help  recollecting  that  the  same  Apostle  elsewhere  very 
significantly  asks,  “ Who  then  is  Paul,  and  who  is  Apollos, 
but  ministers  by  whom  ye  believed,  even  as  the  Lord  gave  to 
every  man  ? I have  planted,  Apollos  watered,  but  God  gave 
the  increase.  So  then  neither  is  he  that  planieth  any  thing, 
neither  he  that  watereth ; but  God  that  giveth  the  increase.” 
The  Almighty  selects  the  lowest  and  the  feeblest  instruments, 
purposely,  that  it  may  be  utterly  impossible  to  measure  the 
apparent  causes  by  the  real  effects.  The  Church,  the  sacra- 
ments, the  ministry,  what  are  they  all,  but  in  themselves  weak 
and  powerless  means,  and  yet  absolutely  omnipotent,  when  in 
the  hands  of  an  Almighty  God,  for  the  regeneration  of  a world  ? 
Bear  this  in  mind,  and  you  cannot  but  feel  extremely  jealous 
of  the  great  and  laborious  effort  making,  at  the  present  day, 
unduly  to  magnify  these  means,  and  to  exalt  these  instruments. 
However  gratifying  it  may  be  to  natural  pride,  or  to  spiritual 
pride,  and  in  all  ages  of  the  Church  it  has  proved  itself  to 


* Rom.  XI.  13. 


310 


ELISHA. 


SO,  thus  to  magnify  the  sacerdotal  office,  I believe  it  will  be 
found  in  the  end  to  injure  even  the  cause  which  it  is  expected 
to  subserve,  to  debase  the  Church  itself,  by  endeavouring 
unduly  to  elevate  it,  and  most  assuredly  not  to  promote  the 
honour  and  glory  of  God.  For  in  proportion  as  men  exalt  the 
outward  and  visible  means,  however  holy  those  means  may 
be,  they  are,  perhaps  involuntarily,  but  surely,  led  to  depress 
the  inward  and  spiritual  grace.  Thus  it  may  be  incontestably 
proved  from  the  history  of  Romanism,  that  the  natural  course 
is  this : by  unscripturally  exalting  sacraments,  we  lower  the 
Lord  of  the  sacraments  ; by  exalting  authoritative  and  traditional 
exposition  of  God’s  word,  we  diminish  men’s  estimation  of 
that  blessed  word  itself ; we  may  begin,  as  the  Romish  Church 
began,  by  over-estimating  the  servant,  and  we  shall  end,  as  she 
has  ended,  by  comparatively  overlooking  the  Master,  the  only 
mediator,  overshadowed  and  lost  amid  a crowd  of  saintly  coad- 
jutors, until  at  length  religion  becomes  a mere  code  of  forms 
and  ordinances,  excluding  all  close  and  spiritual  intercourse 
with  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  all  holy  fellowship  and  commu- 
nion with  the  ever-blessed  Comforter,  and  all  personal  and 
sensible  union  with  the  only-begotten  Son.* 

* I am  glad  to  be  able  to  corroborate  this  view  of  the  effect  of  the 
newly-revived  opinions,  as  developed  by  the  writers  of  the  ‘‘  Tracts  for 
the  Times,”  &c.,  by  the  following  valuable  extract  from  the  last  Charge 
of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Chester  : — ‘‘  Many  subjects  present  themselves, 
towards  which  I might  be  tempted  to  direct  your  thoughts.  One  more 
especially  concerns  the  Church  at  present,  because  it  is  daily  assuming 
a more  serious  and  alarming  aspect,  and  threatens  a revival  of  the  worst 
evils  of  the  Romish  system.  Under  the  specious  pretence  of  deference 
to  antiquity,  and  respect  for  primitive  models,  the  foundations  of  our 
Protestant  Church  are  undermined  by  men  who  dwell  within  her  walls, 
and  those  who  sit  in  the  Reformer’s  seat  are  traducing  the  Reformation. 
It  is  again  becoming  matter  of  question  whether  the  Bible  is  sufficient 
to  make  man  wise  unto  salvation  ; the  main  article  of  our  national  confes- 
sion, justification  by  faith,  is  both  openly  and  covertly  assailed  ; and  the 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God  are  instructed  to  reserve  the  truths 
which  they  have  been  ordained  to  dispense,  and  to  hide  under  a bushel 
those  doctrines  which  the  apostles  were  commanded  to  preach  to  every 
creature.” — Bishop  of  Chester's  Charge^  1838,  p.  2. 


LECTURE  X. 


311 


I would  not,  God  forbid  that  I should,  by  these  remarks, 
kead  you  to  disparage  your  Church,  your  sacraments,  your 
ministers,  neither  did  our  Lord  teach  you  to  disregard  the 
claims  of  the  relative  duties,  when  He  hesitated  not  to  say, 
“ If  any  man  hate  not  his  father  and  mother,  he  cannot  be  my 
disciple but  I would,  by  God’s  help,  lead  you  to  view  the 
holiest  of  these  outworks  of  religion  but  as  outworks  still,  and 
to  use  them  all  only  as  approaches  to  the  shechinah  which 
for  ever  shines  within ; that  you  may  there  find  in  close  and 
intimate  communion  with  God,  that  strength  and  wisdom  for 
this  world’s  calls  upon  you,  and  that  purity  of  heart,  and  that 
oneness  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  resemblance  to  him- 
self, which  shall  be  your  surest  safeguard  here,  your  highest 
joy  and  greatest  blessedness  when  you  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  your  Father. 

Proceeding  with  the  history,  we  find  that  the  young  prophet, 
the  representative  of  Elisha,  tarried  not  a moment  in  fulfilling 
the  important  commission  with  which  he  was  charged.  He 
journeyed  at  once  to  Ramoth-gilead,  and  finding  Jehu  seated 
in  the  midst  of  his  officers,  he  called  him  forth  into  an  inner 
chamber,  and  pouring  the  oil  upon  his  head,  said  unto  him, 
“ Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I have  anointed  thee  king  over  the 
people  of  the  Lord,  even  over  Israel adding,  that  the  great 
purpose  for  which  he  was  thus  called  to  the  throne  of  his 
master  was,  that  he  might  execute  the  justice  of  the  Lord  upon 
the  guilty  family  of  Ahab. 

And  now,  brethren,  I must  call  your  attention  to  one  of  the 
most  remarkable,  and  most  accurately  fulfilled  predictions,  ever 
spoken  by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  God  had  said,  by  the 
word  of  Elijah  the  prophet,  to  Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  on  the 
day  when  he  met  him  walking  in  the  vineyard  of  Naboth, 
which  he  had  procured  by  perjury  and  bloodshed,  “ In  the 
place  where  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  Naboth,  shall  dogs  lick 
thy  blood,  even  thine,”*  and  he  added  afterwards  in  the  hear- 
ing of  Jehu,  “ And  I will  requite  thee  in  this  plat,”t  in  the  very 
♦ 1 Kings  xxi.  19.  t 2 Kings  ix.  26. 


312 


ELISHA. 


vineyard  which  he  had  coveted,  and  taken  possession  of 
Ahab  had,  however,  humbled  himself  before  the  threatenings 
of  God,  and  in  consequence,  God  had  said,  “ In  his  son’s  days 
will  I bring  the  evil  upon  his  house.”  It  was  now  about  to 
be  shown  that  God  had  not  spoken  in  vain. 

Jehoram,  the  son  of  Ahab,  the  king  of  Israel,  having  been 
wounded  in  a contest  with  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  was  journey- 
ing for  a short  time  in  Jezreel,  the  very  town  at  the  outskirts 
of  which  lay  the  fatal  vineyard,  the  plat  of  ground  which  God 
had  declared,  should  witness  Ahab’s  punishment,  as  it  had 
aforetime  beheld  his  iniquity  and  wrong.  No  sooner,  then, 
had  the  trumpets  sounded  in  Ramoth-gilead,  and  the  voice  of 
the  heralds  proclaimed,  “ Jehu  is  king,”  than  we  are  informed 
that  the  first  words  he  uttered  were,  “ If  it  be  your  minds, 
then  let  none  escape  out  of  the  city,  to  go  to  tell  it  in  Jezreel.” 
It  was  not  enough  that  he  should  overcome  Jehoram,  and  put 
him  to  death,  but  it  must  be  there,  in  the  very  spot,  disgraced 
by  the  crimes  of  his  family,  and  pre-doomed  of  God.  “ So 
Jehu  rode  in  a chariot,  and  went  to  Jezreel.  And  there  stood 
a watchman  on  the  tower  in  Jezreel,  and  he  spied  the  company 
of  Jehu  as  he  came,  and  said,  I see  a company.  And  Joram 
said.  Take  an  horseman,  and  send  to  meet  them,  and  let  him 
say.  Is  it  peace  ? So  there  went  one  to  meet  him,  and  said, 
Thus  saith  the  king,  Is  it  peace  ? And  Jehu  said.  What  hast 
thou  to  do  with  peace  ? turn  thee  behind  me.  And  the  watch- 
man told,  saying,  The  messenger  came  to  them,  but  he  cometh 
not  again.”  Surely  this  was  warning  sufficient,  and  more 
than  sufficient,  for  Jehoram  to  have  fled  from  the  fate  that 
awaited  him  ; but  it  was  a warning  thrown  away.  Again  he 
sent  another  messenger,  and  again  he  saw  from  the  still  distant 
watch-tower,  that  he  returned  no  more.  Yet  the  second  warn- 
ing passed  unheeded  by.  Then  the  watchman,  every  moment 
bringing  the  advancing  party  nearer  to  the  walls,  exclaimed, 
“ The  driving  is  like  the  driving  of  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi ; 
for  he  driveth  furiously.”  This  tliird  warning  also  was  dis- 
regarded. 


LECTURE  X. 


313 


The  jiulicially  blinded  monarch  ordered  his  chariot  to  be 
made  ready,  but  instead  of  flying  in  the  opposite  direction,  as 
all  wisdom  and  all  prudence  dictated,  he  actually  goes  to  meet 
Jehu,  and  thus  rushes  upon  his  predicted  fate.  And  where 
did  he  meet  him  ? In  what  spot  did  they  encounter  ? He 
“ met  him,”  says  the  inspired  historian,  “ in  the  portion  of 
Naboth  the  Jezreelite.”  Had  he  proceeded  at  once  towards 
him,  without  thus  sending  messenger  after  messenger,  he  would 
have  met  him  far  beyond  that  portion : had  he  any  longer  de- 
layed, he  would,  like  Jezebel,  have  been  found  within  the  city  ; 
but  he  started,  however  unconsciously,  however  to  him  acci- 
dentally, at  the  very  moment  that  should  bring  him  to  the  spot 
which  the  Lord  had  long  since  appointed  for  his  place  of 
execution. 

The  very  instant  that  he  beheld  Jehu,  “ he  turned  his  hands 
and  fled,”  but  it  was  then  too  late.  “ And  Jehu  drew  a bow 
with  his  full  strength,  and  smote  Jehoram  between  his  arms  ; 
and  the  arrow  went  out  at  his  heart,  and  he  sunk  down  in  his 
chariot.  Then  said  Jehu  to  Bidkar  his  captain.  Take  up  and 
cast  him  in  the  portion  of,  the  field  of  Naboth  the  Jezreelite  ; 
for  remember  how  that,  when  I and  thou  rode  together  after 
Ahab  his  father,  the  Lord  laid  this  burden  upon  him : Surely 
I have  seen  yesterday  the  blood  of  Naboth,  and  the  blood  of 
his  sons,  saith  the  Lord  ; and  I will  requite  thee  in  this  plat, 
saith  the  Lord.  Now,  therefore,  take  and  cast  him  into  the 
plat  of  ground,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord.'' 

And  as  it  happened  to  Jehoram,  so  also  it  happened  to  his 
mother  Jezebel.  It  appears  that  she  usindly  resided  in 
Samaria,  but  she  also  had  come  down  to  Jezreel,  probably  to 
attend  upon  her  wounded  son.  Both,  therefore,  were  provi- 
dentially in  the  place  appointed.  Now  it  had  been  foretold  as 
plainly,  that  Jezebel  should  die  in  the  town,  as  that  Jehoram 
should  be  destroyed  in  the  vineyard  ; for  God  had  distinctly 
said,  “ The  dogs  shall  eat  Jezebel  by  the  wall,”  or,  in  the  ditch 
“ of  Jezreel.”  She,  therefore,  equally  unconsciously,  and  we 
may  add,  equally  against  all  probability,  promoted  its  fulfilment. 

27 


314 


ELISHA. 


She  remained  in  the  watch-tower  when  her  son  left  it,  but  she 
remained  only  to  suffer  a still  more  degrading  fate.  At  the  com- 
mand of  Jehu,  she  was  thrown  from  the  window  into  the  ditch 
which  ran  round  the  city,  and  when  a few  hours  after,  they  went, 
by  his  orders,  to  bury  her,  he  himself  therefore,  apparently 
forgetful  of  the  very  prophecy  he  was  fulfilling,  “ they  found 
no  more  of  her  than  the  skull,  and  the  feet,  and  the  palms  of 
her  hands.  Wherefore  they  came  again  and  told  him.”  Now, 
observe  how  unconsciously  is  man  the  instrument  in  fulfilling 
the  word  of  the  Lord.  And  he  said,  (recollecting  the  prediction 
only  by  its  accomplishment,)  “ This  is  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
which  he  spake  by  his  servant  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  saying,  In 
"ihe  portion  of  Jezreel  shall  dogs  eat  the  flesh  of  Jezebel.  And 
the  carcase  of  Jezebel  shall  be  as  dung  upon  the  face  of  the 
field  in  the  portion  of  Jezreel ; so  that  they  shall  not  say  (or 
not  be  able  to  say).  This  is  Jezebel.” 

Such  is  the  close  of  this  eventful  story.  So  accurately,  so 
literally,  were  both  these  predictions  fulfilled. 

Let  us  inquire,  brethren,  what  is  the  great  lesson  to  be  derived 
from  them?  Is  it  not  this,  that  whenever,  be  the  subject  what 
it  may,  we  can  with  truth  declare,  “ This  is  the  word  of  the 
Lord  which  he  spake,”  that  word  is  absolutely  certain  of 
accomplishment,  though  all  the  powers  of  earth  or  hell  con- 
spire against  it. 

There  is  one  class  of  persons,  to  be  found  probably  in  all 
congregations,  although,  we  trust,  forming  a very  small  minority 
in  our  own,  upon  whom  we  could  desire  especially  to  impress 
this  great  and  powerfully  influential  truth  ; they  who  are  living 
in  disregard  of  the  threatenings  of  the  Most  High. 

Observe,  I entreat  you,  observe  carefully  the  incident  before 
you.  Years  had  passed  away  between  the  threatening  and  its 
fulfilment ; yet  nothing  that  had  intervened,  could  avail  to 
traverse  the  will  of  God,  or  disarrange  its  most  complete  and 
literal  accomplishment.  And  can  you  doubt  but  that  God,  who, 
if  we  may  so  express  it,  so  studiously,  so  carefully  provided 
for  the  fulfilment  of  his  own  word,  as  regarded  these  threaten- 


LECTURE  X. 


315 


ings  and  these  individuals,  will  not  as  certainly  insure  the 
accomplishment  of  every  threatening  and  against  every  indi- 
vidual ? I know  not  a more  fearful  or  a more  painful  thought, 
than  the  inevitable  certainty  of  God’s  predicted  judgments. 
If  the  impenitent  sinner  could  only  read  the  records  of  days 
gone  by  ; if  the  man  who  has  never  yet  fled  to  the  Rock  that 
is  higher  than  we,  and  sought  pardon  from  an  offended  God 
through  the  blood  of  Jesus,  would  only  observe  the  manner  in 
which  every  threatened  evil  that  God  has  spoken  has  infallibly 
come  to  pass,  he  would  not  be  able  to  rest  in  his  bed  this  night, 
until  he  had  sought  and  found  a Saviour.  But,  perhaps,  some 
are  still  sheltering  themselves  under  the  idea  that  there  is  no 
express  malediction,  at  least  no  personal  denunciation,  as  regards 
themselves,  and  that  these,  therefore,  are  not  legitimate  deduc- 
tions from  the  subject  before  us.  Surely,  to  such  persons 
we  may  apply  our  Lord’s  words  and  say,  “Ye  do  err,  not 
knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God.”  For  what 
can  be  more  strictly  personal  to  ourselves,  than  such  declarations 
as  these  : “ Know  ye  not  that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God  ? Be  not  deceived  ; neither  fornicators, 
nor  idolaters,  nor  adulterers,  nor  abusers  of  themselves  with 
mankind,  nor  thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor  drunkards,  nor  revilers, 
nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.”  It  is  true 
no  names  are  mentioned  here,  but  characters  are  names ; and 
may  this  not  be  as  personal  to  some  among  us,  as  if  our  names 
were  as  plainly  inscribed  as  those  of  Jehoram  or  Jezebel  ? The 
apostle,  while  addressing  the  fearful  catalogue  to  his  converts, 
adds  plainly  and  unhesitatingly,  “ And  such  were  some  of  you.” 
It  is  not  for  uninspired  man  to  imitate  this  example.  But  we 
may,  without  any  breach  of  Christian  charity,  say.  And  such 
may  be  some  of  us.  At  any  rate,  we  dare  not  say.  And  such 
are  none  of  us.  If  there  be,  then,  but  one  individual  who  finds 
himself,  i.  e.  his  own  character  or  habits,  among  those  enume- 
rated, let  him  lay  well  to  heart  the  incident  we  have  this  morning 
been  considering.  We  would  say  to  him,  not  harshly,  but 
affectionately,  in  denouncing  these  sinners,  God  has  by  your 


316 


ELISHA. 


own  confession  denounced  you.  And  God  never  yet  uttered  a 
denunciation  that  was  not,  or  shall  not  be,  most  literally  fulfilled. 
It  is  then  certain,  that  not  an  individual  whose  character  is  there 
portrayed  can  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  “ this  threatening 
is  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  spake  by  his  servant”  Paul 
the  apostle. 

Again,  God  has  said  by  the  mouth  of  the  same  servant, 
“ He  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corrup- 
tion,” and  “ If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let 
him  be  Anathema  Maranatha,” — accursed  before  Him  at  his 
coming.  Are  we  all  clear  from  these  maledictions?  Is  no  one 
among  us  “ sowing  to  the  flesh,”  living  only  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  passing  hour,  cherishing  the  flesh,  instead  of  cruci- 
fying it,  with  its  sinful  affections  and  lusts  ? so  absorbed  in 
obtaining  or  enjoying  the  good  things  of  this  present  evd 
world,  that  God  and  His  glory,  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  our 
souls  and  their  eternity,  are  forgotten,  or  uninfluential  themes  ? 
Or,  do  we  all  so  love,  or  desire  to  love,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  not  one  among  us  falls  under  this  most  solemn  impreca- 
tion ? 

Brethren,  these  are  no  trifling  inquiries,  when  you  see,  as 
you  have  this  day  seen,  the  certain  punishment  of  the  guilty, 
that  no  single  threatening  which  God  has  ever  directed  his 
servant  to  utter,  can  fall  harmless  to  the  ground.  And  yet  God 
leaves  not  the  culprit  without  warnings;  thrice  he  warned 
Jehoram,  though  without  effect.  He  warned  the  old  world  by 
the  preaching  of  Noah  ; he  warned  the  sons-in-law  of  Lot  by 
the  words  of  their  father.  He  warned  the  impenitent  Jews  by 
the  mouth  of  his  beloved  Son ; and  has  He  never  warned  or 
threatened  you  ? Have  you  never  been  laid  upon  a bed  of  sick- 
ness? That  was  a warning.  Have  you  never  followed  to  the 
grave  a beloved  wdfe,  or  husband,  or  parent,  or  child  ? That 
was  a warning.  Has  the  Holy  Spirit  never  carried  to  your 
heart,  it  may  be  but  for  a passing  moment,  some  striking  text, 
or  some  solemn  discourse  ? Then  also  was  that  a warning.  If 
you  could  say,  which  you  doubtless  cannot,  that  you  never 


LECTURE  X. 


317 


were  on  any  previous  occasion  in  your  whole  life,  warned  by 
God,  you  have  been  warned  to-day,  you  are  warning  now. 

Would  to  God  that  he  might  in  mercy  go  further  still  than 
this,  that  He  might  not  only  warn,  but  enforce  His  warning ; 
not  only  threaten,  but  this  day  induce  you  to  believe  His 
threatening;  not  only  show  you  the  terrors  of  His  wrath,  but 
this  moment  reveal  to  you  the  unbounded  mercies  of  his  love  ; 
opening  to  every  threatened  sinner  a way  to  escape,  and  vouch- 
safing to  every  soul  an  interest  in  the  cleansing  blood  and 
justifying  righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  may 
we  not  hope  that  He  will  do  so  ? For,  are  the  threatenings  of 
the  Almighty  certain,  and  can  His  promises  be  uncertain  ? 
Shall  nothing  prevent  the  fulfilment  of  the  former,  and  shall 
any  thing  intervene  to  hinder  the  accomplishment  of  the  latter  ? 
No ; in  the  language  of  an  apostle,  “As  God  is  true  * * * all 
the  promises  of  God  in  him  (Christ  Jesus)  are  yea,  and  in  him. 
Amen fixed,  unchangeably,  unalterably,  and  for  ever.  And 
one  of  those  blessed  promises  is,  “ My  word  shall  not  return 
unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  whereto  I send  it.” 
“ The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin.”  What 
would  you  seek,  what  would  you  desire,  which  is  not  included 
here  ? The  child’s  first  sin  in  infancy,  the  hoary  sinner’s  last 
crime  in  decrepid  age,  all  are  within  the  range  of  the  promise, 
all  come  wdthin  the  scope  of  the  blessed  declaration.  None 
need  doubt,  none  need  hesitate  ; the  very  assurance  which  it 
has  been  the  object  of  this  discourse  to  establish,  as  regards  the 
threatenings  of  God,  applies  with  tenfold  force,  yea,  with  ten 
thousandfold  force  to  his  promises,  “Almighty  to  destroy, 
Almightiest  to  save.”  If  there  be  one  convinced  and  convicted 
sinner  before  God  this  day,  one  who  is  conscious  of  practices 
such  as  we  have  enumerated,  one  who  is  destitute  of  that  know- 
ledge and  that  love  to  the  Saviour,  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
and  who  is  willing  now,  in  the  day  of  God’s  power,  to  cry  for 
mercy,  to  ask  for  God’s  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  may  be  enabled 
to  seek  in  heartfelt  penitence  and  faith  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  ; to  him  we  say,  and  we  say  it  at  God’s  command  and 
27 


318 


ELISHA. 


in  God’s  own  words,  “ Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they 
shall  be  white  as  snow  ; though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they 
shall  be  as  wool though  you  have  hitherto  been  an  alien 
and  an  outcast,  come  thus  to  the  blood  of  Christ,  forsaking  sin, 
and  you  shall  be  received  this  hour  as  a welcomed  penitent,  a 
pardoned  sinner,  an  acknowledged  and  adopted  son.  For  this 
also  is  among  the  never-broken  promises  of  our  God,  “ Him 
that  cometh  unto  me,  I will  in  no  wise  cast  out.” 


LECTURE  XL 

2 Kings  xiii.  14. 

**  Now  Elisha  was  fallen  sick  of  his  sickness  whereof  he  died,  and  Joash 
the  king  of  Israel  came  down  unto  him,  and  wept  over  his  face,  and 
said,  O my  father,  my  father  ! the  chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen 
thereof.’’ 

We  this  day  arrive  at  the  close  of  the  eventful  history  which 
it  has  been  my  endeavour  plainly  and  simply  to  bring  before 
you.  I trust,  by  the  aid  of  the  good  Spirit  of  our  God,  that 
the  effort  has  not  been  utterly  in  vain ; but  that  some  features 
in  the  portraiture  of  so  holy  a man  of  God  may  have  made  that 
deep  and  abiding  impression  upon  our  hearts,  which  was 
intended  by  the  historian  who  was  commanded  to  record  them. 

The  last  scene  of  the  prophet’s  life  is  very  briefly  narrated 
by  tlie  inspired  penman  ; and  such  is  usually  the  case  in  the 
book  of  God  ; with  the  exceptions  of  Jacob,  Joseph,  and  David, 
there  is  scarcely  an  example  in  which  any  particulars  of  a 
death-bed  are  recorded ; there  are  more  than  twenty  instances 
in  each  of  which  the  solemn  event  is  despatched  in  the  original 
in  a single  word,  and  “ he  died as  if  to  teach  us  that  it  is 
comparatively  of  small  importance  in  what  manner  men  die. 
The  question  is.  How  have  they  lived  ? It  is  not,  what  are  the 
frames  and  feelings,  often  greatly  deceptive,  which  manifest 
themselves  during  the  last  few  painful,  and  it  may  be,  almost 


LECTURE  XI. 


319 


delirious  hours  of  mortal  sickness,  that  will,  generally  speaking, 
avail  any  of  us ; the  serious  consideration  is,  what  is  the  state 
of  our  hearts,  what  are  the  words  of  our  mouths,  the  actions 
of  our  lives,  while  health  and  strength  are  our  own,  and  the 
fear  of  death  is  distant  ? 

If  men  would  only  look  at  these  important  features  now, 
with  the  feelings  with  which  they  will  one  day  view  them,  if 
they  would  only  examine  themselves  now,  with  half  the  anxiety, 
the  self-suspicion,  the  misgivings,  with  which  they  will  scruti- 
nize their  conduct,  when  the  last  great  enemy  approaches,  and 
the  veil  now  hanging  between  them  and  the  eternal  world  is 
slowly  drawing  up ; how  different  would  be  the  apprehension 
of  our  hearers.  How  much  more  agreeable  the  office  of  the 
preacher.  Instead  of  having  frequently  to  remind  you  of  un- 
pleasant truths,  of  awful  threatenings,  of  dark  forebodings,  of  a 
doubtful  or  a dreary  eternity,  we  should  only  be,  as  the  apostles 
were  to  many  among  their  converts,  “ ministers  by  whom  ye 
believed,”  and  “ helpers  of  your  joy.”  Our  far  more  pleasing 
duty  would  then  be  to  comfort  God’s  people,  to  cry  aloud, 
“ Lift  up  your  hearts  ;”  to  remind  you  of  your  privileges  ; to 
impress  upon  you  your  blessedness  ; to  endeavour  to  render 
you  more  and  more  meet  for  the  high,  and  holy,  and  glorious 
inheritance  awaiting  you.  But  we  shall  return  to  this  subject 
at  a later  period  of  our  discourse. 

The  only  particular  of  the  last  hours  of  Elisha  which  the 
historian  has  bequeathed  to  us,  is  the  visit  paid  him  by  the 
monarch  of  the  country  in  which  he  dwelt,  “ Now  Elisha,” 
says  the  Word  of  God,  “ was  fallen  sick  of  his  sickness  whereof 
he  died.  And  Joash  the  king  of  Israel  came  down  unto  him, 
and  wept  over  his  face,  and  said,  O my  father,  my  father,  the 
chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof.” 

There  is  something  in  the  departure  of  the  good  and  wise, 
which  often  powerfully  affects  the  feelings,  and  calls  forth  the 
sympathies  even  of  the  thoughtless  and  indifferent.  No  very 
great  regard  may  have  been  paid  to  their  instructions,  no  very 
fervent  love  felt  for  their  persons,  no  particular  predilection 


320 


ELISHA. 


entertained  for  their  society,  and  yet,  when  we  are  assured,  that 
the  voice  to  which  we  have  listened,  at  least  with  respect, 
perhaps  occasionally  with  deep  and  thrilling  interest,  is  for  ever 
silenced  ; that  the  eye  which  may  possibly  have  beamed  upon 
us  with  kindness,  or  even  frowned  upon  us  with  anxiety, 
is  closed  in  darkness  ; that  the  form  which  we  have  been, 
from  our  earliest  years,  accustomed- to  behold  with  respect, 
it  may  be  with  affection  and  love,  is  about  to  be  committed 
to  its  narrow  dwelling-place ; if  there  be  a latent  feeling, 
either  of  gratitude  or  remorse,  existing  within  the  breast, 
such  a state  of  things  will  often  call  it  forth  into  sincere  and 
irrepressible  emotion.  While  many  of  the  most  thoughtless 
are,  at  least  for  the  moment,  struck  with  regret  that  they 
have  lost  for  ever  a counsellor  by  whom  they  might  have 
profited ; a guide,  whom  they  might  have  followed  ; a friend, 
whom  they  might,  with  essential  benefit  to  their  own  best 
interests,  have  respected  and  loved. 

It  is  necessary  to  recall  the  existence  of  such  feelings  to  our 
minds,  to  account  for  the,  otherwise,  unintelligible  conduct  of 
Joash.  He  had  reigned  nearly  sixteen  years  over  Israel,  care- 
lessly and  wickedly,  and  never,  that  we  are  informed,  had  paid 
a single  visit  to  the  aged  prophet,  or  asked  his  counsel,  or  fol- 
lowed his  advice  ; while  Elisha,  past  the  period  usually  allotted 
to  man,  and  now  entering  his  ninetieth  year,  appears  to  have 
spent  the  close  of  his  life  in  great  neglect  and  obscurity.  The 
young  king  hears,  however,  that  the  prophet  is  dying  ; and 
probably  very  much  under  the  influence  of  those  natural  and 
regretful  feelings  which  we  have  attempted  to  describe,  hastens 
at  once  to  the  sick  man’s  chamber,  and  there,  in  all  the  agony 
of  wo,  increased  by  the  sense  of  his  past  remissness  and 
neglect,  pours  forth  his  tears,  and  bursts  into  the  passionate 
lamentation,  “ O my  father,  my  father,  the  chariot  of  Israel  and 
the  horsemen  thereof,”  expressing  himself  in  the  very  words 
with  which  Elisha  had  bewailed  the  departure  of  Elijah. 

Brethren,  it  is  easy  thus  to  repay  instruction  unheeded,  and 
counsels  valued  only  when  too  late,  by  a few  violent  exclama- 


LECTURE  XI. 


321 


tions  of  regard  uttered  at  a death-bed,  or  a few  worthless  tears 
dropped  upon  the  sepulchre  ; but  these  will  not  obey  the  for- 
gotten injunctions,  or  redeem  the  misspent  time,  or  recall  the 
neglected  opportunity.  The  aged  seer  might,  with  perfect 
truth  and  propriety,  have  replied  to  the  youthful  monarch,  as 
the  Almighty  is  represented  by  the  prophet  Malachi  to  have 
answered  disobedient  Israel,  “ A son  honoureth  his  father,  and 
a servant  his  master : if  then  I be  a father,  where  is  mine 
honour  ? and  if  I be  a master,  where  is  my  fear?”  It  is  in  vain 
now  to  profess  to  lament  for  a father  whom  you  have  never 
honoured,  to  mourn  for  a master  whom  you  have  never  feared. 

My  younger  brethren,  whose  hearts  have  not  yet  been  chilled 
by  the  atmosphere  of  a cold  and  unfeeling  world,  to  you  I would 
most  solemnly  and  most  affectionately  apply  this  example. 
You  will  one  day,  in  all  human  probability,  be  called  to  follow 
to  the  grave,  those  parents  and  advisers  who  are  now  the  kind 
and  affectionate  guides  of  your  youth,  and  your  best  and  wisest 
counsellors.  That  day  must  be,  to  every  feeling  heart,  a bitter 
day ; increase  not  its  bitterness,  add  not  to  its  pangs,  by  the 
recollection  of  advice  carelessly  disregarded,  or  admonitions 
scornfully  cast  aside.  The  prevailing  habits  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live,  are  opposed  to  all  obedience ; its  popular 
opinions  would  induce  you  to  consider  it  but  a light  and  trivial 
matter,  to  neglect  what  a minister  of  God  may  say,  or  a parent 
may  urgently  and  affectionately  require  of  you  ; but  be  assured, 
that  when  their  heads  are  laid  in  the  dust,  and  their  voices 
silenced  in  the  grave,  deep  and  painful  will  be  your  recollection 
of  every  ungrateful  return  which  you  have  thus  made  for  the 
affectionate  protection  of  your  childhood,  and  the  love  so  largely 
lavished  on  the  days  of  boyhood  and  youth.  It  will  be  then 
vain  to  cry,  “ My  father,  my  father,”  even  though  it  be  amid 
tears  of  the  sincerest  lamentation ; the  very  name  will  but 
remind  you,  that  you  have  despised  the  obligations  which  that 
relationship  implies ; that  in  disobeying  him  who  is  gone,  you 
have  disobeyed  God,  who  has  commanded  honour  to  be  joined 
to  affection,  obedience  to  be  united  with  love,  from  the  child  to 


322 


ELISHA. 


its  parents,  as  distinctly  as  to  the  Almighty  himself;  and  who 
will  never  recognize  among  his  children,  one  who  scornfully 
contemns  these,  God’s  own  representatives  upon  earth.  The 
habits  and  sentiments  of  the  age  may  vary,  but  God’s  word  is 
immutable,  and  varies  not ; and  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when 
its  truth  will  be  established  before  assembled  worlds  ; “ Heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  word  shall  not  pass  away.” 

Returning  once  more  to  Elisha’s  dying  chamber,  we  find 
that  the  time  was  quickly  passing  by,  the  last  sands  were  fall- 
ing from  the  prophet’s  glass,  and  he  kindly  accepts  the  peniten- 
tial expressions  of  Joash,  although  he  knew,  alas  ! too  well 
that  he  who  uttered  them,  “ did,”  so  the.  Word  of  God  assures 
us,  “ that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord ; for  he 
departed  not  from  all  the  sins  of  Jereboam  the  son  of  Nebat, 
who  made  Israel  to  sin.”  But  God  will  be  no  man’s  debtor  : 
Ahab  humbled  himself,  although  he  forsook  not  his  iniquity, 
and  the  Almiglity  postponed  his  judgment,  although  we  have 
no  reason  to  believe  that  He  converted  his  heart.  So  Joash 
honours  the  closing  hours  of  God’s  prophet,  and  the  Almighty, 
in  return,  permits  that  prophet  to  be  the  vehicle  to  him  of 
temporal  benefit.  Thus  we  invariably  find  it;  the  smallest 
movement  for  good,  is  recognized  and  approved  of,  and  often 
rewarded  by  the  Almighty  ; and  many  are  the  instances  in  the 
Old  Testament,  in  which  temporal  blessings  follow  thus  imme^ 
diately  upon  temporary  obedience.  How  striking  a proof  of 
this,  do  we  find  in  the  example  at  present  before  us.  No 
sooner  had  the  king  expressed  himself  as  we  have  already  seen, 
than  the  prophet  said  unto  him,  “ Take  bow  and  arrows. 
And  he  said  to  the  king  of  Israel,  Put  thine  hand  upon  the 
bow.  And  he  put  his  hand  upon  it : and  Elisha  put  his  hands 
upon  the  king’s  hands.  And  he  said,  Open  the  window  east- 
ward. And  he  opened  it.  Then  Elisha  said.  Shoot.  And 
he  shot.  And  he  said.  The  arrow  of  the  Lord’s  deliverance 
from  Syria : for  thou  shalt  smite  the  Syrians  in  Aphek,  till 
thou  have  consumed  them.” 

How  touching  a picture,  and  how  significant  a symbol ! 


LECTURE  XI. 


323 


The  dying  prophet  rises  up  in  his  bed  to  lay  his  withered 
hand  upon  that  of  the  young  and  powerful  king ; without  this 
interposition  of  Elisha,  Joash  would  have  drawn  the  bow  in 
vain ; strong  as  is  the  monarch,  he  must  learn  that  the  blessing 
is  simply  and  entirely  from  God ; that  the  prophet’s  nerveless 
hand  laid  upon  his,  shall  impart  a strength,  and  secure  a 
triumph,  which  all  the  vigour  of  all  the  bowmen  of  Israel  could 
not  have  purchased  ; so  truly  had  he  said,  “ The  chariot  of 
Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof.”  God’s  holiest  servants  are 
a nation’s  best  and  strongest  defenders.  May  we  never  for  a 
moment  forget,  brethren,  this  important  truth,  “ Not  by  might, 
nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.” 
The  feeble  hand  of  the  prophet,  the  faintest  prayers  of  God’s 
people,  will  oftentimes  nerve  the  strongest  arm,  and  give  in- 
creased effect  to  the  most  powerful  resolutions.  The  dying 
prophet’s  last  petitions  obtain  a victory  for  his  native  country, 
when  its  chariots  and  horsemen  would  have  been  useless ; and 
Joash  reaps  a large  reward  for  his  expressions  of  sympathy, 
and  tears  of  kindness. 

Still  God  will  make  the  measure  of  the  king’s  faith,  the 
measure  also  of  his  promised  successes.  Joash  has  honoured 
God  in  the  person  of  his  prophet,  and  he  shall  succeed  against 
his  enemies;  but  the  degree  of  success  shall  be  regulated  by  the 
warmth  of  his  zeal,  the  strength  of  his  faith,  the  energy  of  his 
perseverance. 

Observe  how  the  prophet  tries  them.  “ He  said,  Take  the 
arrows  : and  he  took  them.  And  he  said  unto  the  king  of 
Israel,  Smite  upon  the  ground : and  he  smote  thrice,  and 
stayed.  And  the  man  of  God  was  wroth  with  him,  and  said, 
Thou  shouldest  have  smitten  five  or  six  times,  then  hadst  thou 
smitten  Syria  till  thou  hadst  consumed  it : whereas  now  thou 
shalt  smite  Syria  but  thrice.”  What  could  be  the  reason  that 
Joash,  perfectly  understanding,  as  he  must  have  done,  the 
significant  symbol,  anxious  as  he  ought  to  have  been  to  have 
triumphed  over  the  enemies  of  his  country,  and  of  his  throne, 
acted  thus  coldly  and  listlessly,  and  excited  so  evidently  the 


324 


ELISHA. 


anger,  or  rather  the  grief,  of  Elisha  ? Brethren,  there  can  be 
no  question,  that  the  cause  of  it,  however  undeveloped,  even  to 
his  own  heart,  such  a motive  might  be,  was  simply  unbelief; 
unbelief,  manifesting  itself,  as  it  invariably  does,  in  coldness, 
listlessness,  and  indifference.  Joash  did  not  really  and 
thoroughly  believe  that  his  triumphs  over  Syria  should  be 
limited  by  the  strokes  of  his  arrows  upon  the  ground.  Think 
you  that  if  he  had,  he  would  thus  carelessly  have  smitten,  or 
thus  speedily  have  ceased  to  smite?  No;  it  is  perfectly  evi- 
dent, that  there  was  a secret  root  of  unbelief  existing  in  his 
heart ; not,  indeed,  strong  enough  to  cause  him  absolutely  to 
disobey  the  prophet’s  command,  and  yet  too  strong  to  permit 
him  fully  to  reap  its  intended  benefit. 

Behold  in  this  simple  narrative,  a key  to  the  small  achieve- 
ments in  spiritual  things,  the  stunted  growth,  the  slow  advance- 
ment in  the  Chris^^ian  life  and  Christian  experience  of  many 
among  ourselves  Our  prayers  are  formal,  our  efforts  are 
languid,  our  conflicts  with  our  spiritual  enemies,  few,  and  weak, 
and  aimless  ; and  why  is  this  ? Because  we  do  not  fully 
believe  in  those  great  and  good  things  which  God  has  promised  ; 
therefore  we  neither  long  after  them  ardently,  nor  press  towards 
them  earnestly,  nor  strive  for  them  unceasingly.  We  overcome, 
it  may  be,  a few  evil  habits,  we  conquer  a few  besetting  sins, 
we  advance  a little  way  against  our  spiritual  foes,  and  then  we 
rest  contented  with  our  victories,  and  sit  down  quietly  with 
the  feeling  of  the  man  in  the  Gospel,  “ Soul,  take  thine  ease,” 
and  never  attempt  with  all  our  heart,  and  mind,  and  strength, 
to  press  onward,  and  attain  to  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ. 

How  many  are  there,  of  whom  this  is  strictly  and  literally 
true,  so  that  it  might  fairly  be  said  of  them,  as  of  Joash,  they 
have  smitten  “ thrice  and  stayed.”  Spiritual  indolence  is 
their  ruin.  They  contend  just  enough  with  the  powers  of 
darkness  to  quiet  their  own  consciences,  and  then  “stay;”  a 
melancholy  close  to  a most  hopeful  beginning  ! “ Their  good- 

ness,” as  the  prophet  expresses  it,  “ is  as  the  morning  cloud, 
and  as  the  early  dew  it  goeth  away.” 


LECTURE  XI. 


325 


Brethren,  ask  yourselves,  individually,  is  it  so  with  me  ? 
Have  I rested  in  a slight  improvement  instead  of  seeking  the 
renewal  of  the  whole  man  ? Have  I been  satisfied  with  a very 
limited  advancement  in  Christian  sanctification  ; conscious  that 
my  place  in  the  school  of  Christ  is  a very  low  one,  and  yet 
willing  to  remain  there  ; have  I,  in  fact,  “ stayed  settled  down 
upon  the  lees,  when  I ought  to  have  been  striving,  struggling, 
or  even  “ agonizing  ?”  for  our  Lord  did  not  think  that  too  strong 
an  expression,  to  represent  the  degree  of  zeal  and  energy  with 
which  we  ought  to  “ strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,”  and 
to  attain  to  some  blessed  meetness  for  His  eternal  kingdom. 

If  there  are  any  who  feel  that  this  is  too  true  a representation 
of  their  present  condition,  we  earnestly  call  upon  them  to  rouse 
themselves  from  this  state  of  listless  inactivity  ; no  longer  to  be 
content  with  past  victories  or  present  attainments  ; no  longer  to 
be  satisfied  with  saying,  I trust  I am  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
therefore  I am  safe ; but  to  strive  zealously  for  the  filling  up 
of  every  Christian  grace,  the  performance  of  every  high  and 
holy  duty,  that  so  not  only  an  entrance,  but  as  the  apostle  ex- 
presses it,  “an  entrance  may  be  ministered  unto  them  abun- 
TANTLY  into  the  kingdom  and  joy  of  our  Lord.”  It  is  true 
that  to  be  a mere  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  our  God,  would 
infinitely  outweigh  the  pains  and  penalties  of  a thousand  lives 
of  labour  and  of  self-denial,  but  God  has  freely  offered  us  the 
highest  glories,  and  the  richest  enjoyments,  and  God  is  most 
honoured  when  we  the  most  anxiously  and  largely  seek  them. 
“ Open  thy  mouth  wide,”  are  His  own  words,  “ and  I will 
fill  it.”  This  spiritual  listlessness  and  indolence  are,  we  be- 
lieve, among  the  most  crying  sins  of  our  time  ; there  are  thou- 
sands who  are  greatly  improved  by  religion,  but  where  are  the 
individuals  who  are  with  all  their  heart,  and  soul,  and  strength, 
“ following  the  Lord  fully,”  clinging  closely  to  Him,  desiring  to 
rest  in  nothing  short  of  a full,  complete,  and  entire  resemblance 
to  Him  ? May  God  of  His  great  mercy  add  a thousand-fold  to 
their  number,  may  He  teach  us  all  to  know  experimentally, 
and  to  exhibit  practically,  something  at  least  of  the  feelings  of 
‘28 


326 


ELISHA. 


one,  who  was  as  certainly  a regenerated  and  converted  Chris- 
tian as  any  whom  I now  address,  and  yet  who  hesitated  not  to 
say,  “ Brethren,  I count  not  myself  to  have  apprehended  1 
think  nothing  at  present  done;  “ but  this  one  thing  I do,  forget- 
ting those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto 
those  things  which  are  before,  I press  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.” 

All  that  remains  to  us  of  the  history  of  him  of  whom  we 
have  been  speaking,  is,  as  we  noticed  at  the  commencement  of 
this  discourse,. very  briefly  narrated  by  the  inspired  historian, 
“ And  Elisha  died,  and  they  buried  him.”  This  is  all  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  has  to  record  of  the  end  of  one  of  the  most 
unblemished  characters  to  be  met  with  in  the  volume  of  inspi- 
ration ! He  died,  and  they  buried  him  ! Of  his  last  hours  all 
is  silence  ; it  is  enough  that  he  exchanges  his  cottage  of  clay 
for  a palace  of  marble ; that  he  goes  from  serving  God  here,  to 
dwelling  with  him  for  ever  in  heaven.  Of  the  manner  of  this 
exchange,  of  the  mode  of  departure,  not  a word  is  bequeathed 
to  us.  He  had  indeed  inherited  a double  portion  of  Elijah’s 
spirit,  but  he  did  not  inherit  the  chariot  of  fire  which  carried 
him  upward  to  the  skies.  No,  “ Elisha  died;”  the  longest 
and  the  holiest  life  knows  no  other  conclusion.  God’s  dearest 
servants  are  not  exempt  from  this,  the  common  lot  of  all 
mortality;  God’s  own  Son  desired  not  to  escape  it;  it  awaits 
yourselves,  it  awaits  us  all.  This  is  a mere  truism.  No  one 
doubts  it ; but  who  regards  it  ? who  lives  as  if  he  gave  it  credit  ? 
who  acts,  as  if  each  breath  he  drew  might  be  the  last? 

Would  to  God,  brethren,  we  could  but  daily,  hourly  realize 
that  we  are  dying  creatures.  How  would  it  plead  with  us  to 
redeem  the  time  ? How  would  it  almost  compel  us  to  live  less 
unto  the  world,  and  more  to  God.  How  would  it  drive  us  to 
the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  we,  and  force  upon  us  some  feel- 
ings of  gratitude  to  Him,  whose  dying  love  has  purchased  an 
entrance  into  an  eternity  of  glory.  But  we  dislike  the  subject, 
and  we  banish  it.  It  is  a forbidden  topic,  and  in  ordinary 
society,  its  very  mention  excites  astonishment,  puts  a stop  to 


LECTURE  XI. 


327 


the  most  lively  conversation,  and  saddens,  immediately,  the 
most  cheerful  countenance.  And  yet  it  ought  not  so  to  be,  if 
our  faith  were  steadfast,  and  our  hopes  clear,  and  our  lives  con- 
sistent ; there  is  little,  comparatively  speaking,  of  real  painful- 
ness in  this  solemn  subject.  It  is  painful,  we  allow,  to  think 
of  broken  ties,  and  earthly  relationships  rent  asunder,  and  friend- 
ships buried  in  the  cold  and  silent  grave ; but  a Christian 
knows  of  something  more  than  these.  And  is  it  painful  to 
think  of  the  bright  land  which  lies  beyond  it,  and  into  which  a 
single  step  will  carry  us  ? Is  it  painful  to  think  of  a country 
where  all  is  holiness  and  peace,  and  where  sin  and  sorrow  are 
alike  unknown  ? where  we  have  already  a Father,  a Brother,  a 
Comforter,  and  many,  many  friends  ? Surely  this  is  not  pain- 
ful ; this  ought  not  to  be,  to  any  one  among  us,  a subject  of 
unmingled  dissatisfaction,  nay  ra.Li^;,  should  it  not  be  one  of 
calm  and  quiet  confidence,  if  not  of  subdued  and  holy  triumph  ? 
Such,  dear  brethren,  it  has  ever  been  and  will  ever  be,  if  only 
we  are  reconciled  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
cleansed  by  his  blood,  sanctified  by  his  Spirit,  renewed  into 
his  image.  “ It  is  appointed  to  men  once  to  die,”  there  is  no 
escaping  it ; but  then,  thank  God,  it  is  but  once.  Over  every 
child  in  Christ’s  redeemed  and  pardoned  family,  “the  second 
death  hath  no  power.”"^  Once  pass  the  narrow  valley,  and  it 
shall  open  into  a wide  expanse  of  never-ending  glory. 

Fear  not,  then,  the  approach  of  man’s  last  enemy,  but,  O, 
see  that  you  be  ready  for  him.  See  that  you  have  not  to 
conflict  with  him  alone.  “ None  but  Christ,  none  but  Christ,” 
can  help  you  then  ; without  Him,  the  best  spent  life  will  make 
a shield  that  will  drop  into  powder  before  the  assault.  You 
must  be  clothed  in  celestial  armour,  to  meet  uninjured  the  un- 
earthly attack.  You  must  be  “ one  with  Christ,  and  Christ 
with  you,”  to  pass  unharmed  through  the  dark  valley,  to  stem 
the  swellings  of  Jordan,”  to  enter  within  the  gates  into  the 
city.  But  if  you  are  thus,  “ one  with  Christ,”  though  you 
may  be  the  weakest  man,  the  most  timid  woman,  or  the  feeblest 
* Rev.  XX.  6. 


328 


ELISHA. 


cniid,  you  shall  be  made  more  than  conqueror  over  Satan,  sin, 
diid  death,  and  over  every  enemy  between  time  and  eternity. 
All,  without  a single  exception,  who  are  Christ’s  here,  shall  be 
Christ’s  for  ever;  all  who  suffer  with  him,  “shall  also  reign 
with  him all  shall  unite  in  the  song  of  Moses  and  of  the 
Lamb,  and  shall  say  with  one  heart  and  one  voice,  “ Great 
and  marvellous  are  thy  works.  Lord  God  Almighty,  just  and 
true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  Saints,”  “ For  thou  wast 
slain  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood.”  “ Blessing, 
and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth 
upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.” 


THE  END 


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